Awakenings
by Namdoolb
Summary: A vampire attack on Willow drives Xander to do something very stupid. Can a new arrival in sunnydale help Willow to save him (and the world) before it's too late?
1. Awakenings Chapter 1

Awakenings 1

**Author's notes:** This story takes place instead of becoming (the season 2 finale). Hence spoilers through season 2. And yes, the end is a cliffhanger. Look for a continuation of this story to appear on this very same site. 

**Warnings**: Bad things happen to good characters. Mild Language Warning, Violence warning.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon and mutant enemy does. No copyright infringement intended.

The sky was deep purple, and the moon shone out, glowing a luminescent silver. The mansion sat atop a hill, surrounded by deep forest, and light glowed from within. This however was not natural lighting, inside the mansion magickal workings were being wrought. 

Robert Sherman stood in reverent silence, staring up at the moon through the skylight. A savage storm raged in the sky, but the peals of thunder and the forks of lightning could not obscure the moon from him. All was as it should be. The energy flowed down through the skylight and washed over him. Driving the incessant pattering of the rain on the glass from his mind he concentrated and started to draw the energy inwards so he could focus it. When he felt he had enough he turned to the candle and started to release the energy, he held his hand out, six or so inches away from the wick of the candle and let the energy flow out of him and into it. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and let it out, imagining the energy flowing out with the air to energise the candle. He heard the hiss as the fire was born and could smell the flame consuming the wick. A smile forming on his face he opened his eyes to observe his work. 

"You must learn control." The old man sent a disappointed look back at him before blowing out the match. "The energy was there but you must learn to focus it where you want it. You'd have burnt the pedestal to the ground before you lit that candle." 

Robert looked down at the floor. "It's no good, I just can't do it." 

"Don't think like that." The old man waved a finger at him. "Remember all you have already done. This is the hardest of the things you need to learn, it is also the last. Once you have mastered this you will be ready." 

"Ready for what?" Robert looked the man in the eyes. "You keep telling me I need to be ready for something, but why won't you tell me what?" 

"When the time comes you will know. Soon now, It is almost upon us. But enough for now." The old man raised a hand to forestall any objections. "I'm not as young as I used to be and I need my rest. Maybe some meditation will help you focus." 

Robert nodded. "I'll be in my room if you need me." 

There was a loud creaking noise as Robert pushed open the door to his room and slipped through. With a barely audible sigh he flopped onto his bed. Gazing up to the old gas lamp that provided the room with some measure of illumination he cast his mind back to how all this had started. If someone had told him seven years ago that this is where he would be now he'd have told them where to get off. He couldn't have imagined half of the stuff he'd seen in the past seven years. He didn't want to try and imagine what another seven years would yield. All his life he'd seen things, not exactly having lived at the crux of supernatural activity he never had much cause to lose much sleep over it. Not until he saw his first vampire. Never in a million years could he have hidden his reaction upon seeing it. Of course, noticing things like this is bad because it gets you noticed. He would have died that day at the hands of the vampire if not for the intervention of his now mentor. Robert furrowed his brow as he tried to gauge the age of Master Zachary, he had to be at least eighty by now, and that made his besting a vampire in single combat all the more impressive. To all intents and purposes Robert Sherman died that day, as is the way when one is initiated into the order. He became Apprentice to Master Zachary and he'd been learning since that day. The order though, Is not as big as it once was, it was dying. Soon it's flame would sputter and die in the night. Well, that was the prophecy at least. Robert turned away from these thoughts and toward his meditation. As Master Zachary had said, there was little time, and he needed to be ready. 

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Willow Rosenberg glanced nervously at her watch, she'd never been late to class before but she was coming dangerously close. This worried her, but then again, she was with Oz. This made her feel marginally better about it. Willow looked across the corridor at Oz who was there, smiling back at her as ever. He made her feel good. He gave her that "tingly" feeling all over. 

"So, are you coming to the Bronze tonight?" She asked 

"Uh no, I have a band playing thing." 

Well, It wasn't like he was brushing her off, Without the band she couldn't be a groupie.... and she enjoyed being a groupie. But something was amiss, because the whole purpose of her "groupieness" was so that she could watch the band play. 

"But where would you play? I thought the Bronze was your regular band ..... playing place." 

"This one's in a garage, it's called practice." 

"That's good, practice is good." Willow stalled a moment. "Not that you need any practice 'cos. you're like a regular, you know... band that doesn't need any practice." 

That definitely qualified as an uncomfortable silence, she and Oz didn't have many of those. Silences that is. With Xander she had lots of silences although she would never have described any of them as "uncomfortable". Her eyes lit as she thought of how to overcome this non-speech problem. 

"Oooh. So, can I watch you practice?" 

"Normally the answer would be yes." 

"But?" 

"But I'm kinda' working on a surprise for you and, if you do come and watch us practising now well, it would cease to be a surprise." 

"I like surprises." A worried look suddenly crept onto Willow's face. "Unless they're bad surprises. This is a good surprise isn't it?" 

Oz leant forwards and gently kissed her on the lips. 

"Okay, good surprise then." Willow chirped, slightly flushed. "I'll see you later, because I have class now, and I have to go and slow my heart down." 

Oz simply smiled in response. 

Yes, she was smitten, what was the exact phrase Buffy had used before? Ahhh, that's it. Apparently "She had it bad". Willow didn't like this, it made love sound like a sickness. But then with all that Buffy had gone through she was bound to be a little jaded. She was so absorbed in thought as she walked down the corridor that she didn't notice the tall, dark figure that walked past her. 

"Earth to Will?" 

"Huh" 

"Mind me asking what planet you were on? It looks like a really interesting place." 

"Oh Hi Xander" Willow had given up responding to his quips, she knew he meant nothing by them. "Hey! Don't you have class?" 

"That never bothered me before, I say why save the damned?" 

"Because exams and future and College...." 

"That's not for a whole year yet," Xander cut in. "I'm not even a senior yet, working is an alien concept to me." 

"I'm being serious here." 

"I know Wills, I'll be at class in about...." Xander glances at his watch. "15 minutes, I told the G man I'd help with some of the sorting." 

Willow folded her arms and cocked her head to one side. 

"Well It was worth a try." Xander shrugged as he made off in the direction of his class. 

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Willow sat in the Bronze, bored and alone, except for Xander who was pining over Cordelia's temporary absence. So that would be bored and alone then. 

"So, where is Cordelia anyway?" Anything to breach the silence. 

"Oh, she had this weekend shopping trip thing." Xander scowled. "you know, most girls, one day is enough. But not our Cordy, she needs a whole weekend to do her best shopping." 

A familiar shape sauntered into view. 

"So what's happening over here with all your....... non verbal depressing expressions?" 

Buffy receives blank stares from both Xander and Willow. 

"Well, I'm going to get some carbonated drinking fluids, you guys want some?" 

This time Xander and Willow responded with noncommittal grunting noises. 

"Well suit yourselves, but I'm not offering free drinks again anytime soon." Buffy strode off in the direction of the bar, weaving herself through the crowds that were being decidedly more energetic than her friends. 

"I'm beat, I have classes on Monday to write notes for." Willow finally pulled together enough energy to get up from her seat. 

"Wait a moment, I'll walk you back." Xander's concern for her well being was touching... in a way. 

"No, you stay, have fun. Look, there's Buffy" Willow pointed over in Buffy's direction in the hope that Xander would be distracted. He'd always looked out for her, but since she'd started seeing Oz, looking out for her had turned into full 24/7 watcher type concern. 

"Didn't you know? Buffy no longer holds the same attraction for me." Xander said. 

Willow looked at him. She could tell he was lying, he only ever did that thing with his lip when he was lying. 

"Besides Buffy can take care of herself," Xander continued "She's the slayer. You aren't, and I worry about you. Especially with Angelus about." 

"But it isn't that late at all, I mean the sun's hardly set. Most Vampires won't be out for a couple of hours yet at least. Now go, have fun...... please?" 

Xander had tried arguing with Willow before, It didn't work. Once she was set in her way it took a force of nature to change it. 

"Okay, Go on, but be careful. Okay?" 

Willow gave Xander her best "confident" smile. She had been getting better at them lately. 

"You know me." 

"That's why I worry" 

"Say 'Bye to Buffy for me." And with that Willow turned and made toward the exit as fast as the crowds would part to allow her. 

Xander sagged back in his chair for a moment before knocking back the rest of his coke. "Oh, no my life isn't complicated. It's just interesting." He muttered before peeling himself out of his chair and going to find Buffy. 

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Willow was worried. Despite what she had said about the sun setting it had obviously been down for a few hours now, and she was shrouded in a grim twilight as she briskly marched back to her home. 

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"That offer still good on a drink?" Xander was less happy than before. Whatever his hormones told him, he knew that Buffy could never fill the space that Willow did. Him and Willow were like..... soulmates. 

"Sure." Buffy answered. "What's Willow having?" 

"Willow went home, she had work to do." 

"And you didn't go with her? It isn't safe at this time of night." 

"I've tried arguing with Willow before, it doesn't work. She wanted to go alone." 

"Ok, not your fault, I'll talk to her tomorrow........" Buffy paused as an old look crept into her eyes. 

"What's up?" 

"Trouble, this way." 

"Hey! Slow down for the geeky sidekick!" Xander protested as he made every effort to keep up with Buffy as she barged her way towards the exit. 

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Willow gasped as a dark shadow descended across her path. She looked up at the source of the shadow and mentally chided herself for being scared by such a small cat up there in the trees. As she looked up at the cat, it cried out in fright and leapt off into the darkness. Willow watched the cat as it fled into the distance. I had no idea I could be so scary. She turned back to continue walking and froze as she saw the sharp, angular features Just inches from her own. 

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"What's wrong?" Xander panted with the exertion of keeping up with the slayer. 

"Vampires, This way." 

"But this is the way........." A chill went down the back of Xander's spine as the impact of what he was about to say reverberated through him. "This is the way Willow walks home from here." 

"Then you'd best run faster." As Buffy said this she was surprised to see that Xander was actually keeping up with her. In fact if anything, he was gaining ground. 

"Stake" 

"What?" 

"Give....me....a....stake." The exertion was taking it's toll on Xander but he sure as hell wasn't about to slow down. 

"I'm the Slayer, remember?" 

"Two options. Either I fight them with a stake or I use my bare hands. Which sounds better to you?" 

Buffy pulled a stake out of some recess of her clothing and tossed it over her shoulder for Xander to catch, then she pulled out another for herself. 

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In panic Willow pulled the simple wooden cross out from her pocket and thrust it into the Vampire's face. There was an intolerable hissing noise and the ....thing fell back several feet from her. Willow turned to run, but was barred by a pair of Vampires who had been standing behind her. With a deft blow the cross was quickly batted from her hand. Out of shock and denial she started to edge backwards, right into the grasp of the Vampire she had just fought off. Willow gasped as she was lifted up into the air. It was a strange feeling, weightlessness. Unfortunately she didn't have long to savour the experience before she landed on the ground...hard. 

The pain told her that her ankle was probably broken, though broken or not she wasn't going anywhere. She frantically grabbed for the cross that had landed just a few inches out of her reach. Then she felt the clawed hands on her shoulders, digging into her flesh as she was hauled up into a vague standing position. At least I went on my own, If Xander had gone with me he'd be dead too. All her thoughts paled into insignificance as she felt the twin stabs of pain at the side of her neck. 

Willow could feel the pins and needles, all over her body in fact. For some reason she could feel the pain of her twisted ankle even more acutely now, she felt the fiery agony where the vampire bit into her, and she could smell it's rancid breath with a distinctness she had never known before. Her vision was dim and murky, but she could hear with crystal clarity the sickening gulp as her life drained away and into the inhuman fiend that was sucking it, She also heard a very familiar voice: 

"Don't you guys know it's bad manners to suck out a girl's blood on the first date?" 

The pain in her neck and shoulders ceased, and her ankle knew pain again as her full weight was released onto it. As she collapsed onto her knees she heard a blood curdling scream, she couldn't imagine any of the vampires making that noise, and it was definitely male so Buffy wasn't a suspect. As she started to topple over to her right she heard the first "Whooosh" as one of the vampires met it's slayer. Moments later came a rush of air as a human shape was thrown bodily over her left shoulder, this was followed by an inhuman snarl as a Vampire leapt over her in pursuit. Even with her blurred vision she could tell that the shape wasn't Buffy, he was far to big for that, and women didn't have shoulders that shape. The human shape landed in a flawless combat roll and scooped her cross up from the floor where it had fallen. As she collapsed onto her side she saw the Vampire dive onto it's opponent out of the corner of her vision...... and disintegrate as it impaled itself on the end of the Cross. The third "Whoosh" could be heard from somewhere behind her as the man picked himself up from the floor. As he dusted himself off, recognition flashed across Willow's features. 

"Xander?...." She murmured as loudly as she could manage. 

Then she passed out. 

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In the beginning there was pain. It was a dull ache that she couldn't quite place, the pain seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. It occurred to Willow that she couldn't see anything. She didn't even know, for that matter whether she was standing, or sitting, or lying down. She felt the barest brush of something on the side of her face, and lifted her hand up to feel what it was. 

..............Nothing. 

She could still feel whatever it was brushing against her skin, but her arm refused to co-operate. A wave of panic hit her, What's wrong? What's happened to me?. Her thought's were broken for a moment by someone talking. It was very faint, but she could still hear it, like it was from a great distance away. 

"Forgive me Willow." She could make out the voice as Xander's. She could hear the pain in his voice, and could almost see him biting back tears as he said the words. 

"If I'd gone with you none of this would have happened." As Xander continued his monologue she felt a light impact as a tear fell onto her face. 

"I never......" Willow could feel Xander's hand around her own, and the pressure as he squeezed gently on it. "I never realised how much you mean to me..... I... love you." The last words were almost lost as Xander's voice broke down altogether. She couldn't stand for him to be like this, she had to do something, anything so he'd know she was ok. Concentrating with all of her strength she willed her hand to work, to squeeze back, anything to communicate with him somehow. 

Xander was broken from his thoughts by a pressure on his hand, She's going to be okay.. The thought faded as the pressure on his hand began to hurt. Willow was shocked to hear Xander yelp in pain, and immediately released the pressure on his hand. 

"Does anything appear to be the matter?" Giles' stoic figure appeared in the doorway. 

"Yeah, only we thought we heard someone strangling a cat in there." 

"Ha ha Buffy, very funny." Xander was far to distraught to respond properly to the quip. He only hoped he could keep from showing the full extent of his emotions. "I think the transfusion worked." He stood up, rubbing his hand as if to emphasise the point. 

"Yes, well.... good." Giles removed a piece of cloth from his pocket and proceeded to clean off his glasses. "I wasn't sure whether or not we'd be able to conduct the operation with the limited resources at our disposal." 

"Yeah, you should try this giving blood thing, it's fun......." Buffy was swaying on her feet and Giles was only just able to catch her before she fell backwards. 

"You should go and sit down, you've given more blood than is really healthy. I'm afraid you won't be slaying for a few days." 

"Remind me again why he couldn't give any." Buffy said pointing at Xander. 

"The next time they tell you about blood types I suggest you listen, now go home and get some rest. You too Xander, you both look like you could use it. Oz will get here soon, I can hold the fort till then." 

Xander clasped his hands around Willow's "Get well soon Will." Then hauled himself up from the chair that stood next to padded library table that was passing for a bed. 

"C'mon" Buffy said. "I'll walk you back." As they both shambled out of the library. 

Giles walked over to Willow, upturning her hand and placing his first two fingers against her wrist. After a few seconds of deliberation he let out a sigh of relief and sat down. 

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Buffy and Xander had reached Buffy's house, in the pre dawn gloom it had an almost surreal air about it. 

"Hey cheer up Xand. It's going to be okay, remember?" 

"No Buffy, it's pretty far from okay. In fact it hasn't been close to okay ever since you did the wild thing with Angelus." 

"That was harsh." As Xander looked over he could see what he'd done to Buffy, he couldn't tell how far from breaking down she was, but it wasn't far. 

"I'm sorry. I said,... I didn't mean." Buffy looked up and seemed to ease slightly at that. "Just, first Miss Calendar, now Willow..." 

"Willow isn't dead." Buffy cut him off. 

"How much longer did Giles say?..... One minute more and that vamp would have sucked her dry. And that WAS one of Angel's vamps, you know that." 

"But she's alive, she's going to be okay, and this won't happen again." 

"Too right it won't." 

"Hold it there Xander, I know that look. You aren't are you?" 

"You couldn't do it, guess it's up to me." 

"Don't be stupid, you'll just get yourself killed." 

"Nope, got the ways, and the means." Xander pulled his coat back to reveal a pair of stakes and a good half dozen crossbow bolts. "Now you know you're not going to stop me, so just trust me on this one." With that Xander turned and sprinted off down the street. Buffy made a start after him but hadn't run more than 10 paces before she had to stop. 

"Got to ..... tell Giles, ...... stop Xander." she panted as she staggered back to the door. 

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Robert Sherman gazed in awe at the slowly burning candle as Master Zachary smiled from the side of the room. 

"I did it! I actually did it!" 

"As I always knew you would." Master Zachary paused to mop the sweat from his brow. "Of all the members of the order I have seen, your light burns the brightest." 

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long." Robert said. "Haven't you always told me that?" 

"Touché," Master Zachary paused to cough, a long, ragged rattling sound that confirmed he was far from well. "And I wish it wasn't true. Until I found you I was the last of the order. Soon you will be the last, and soon after the order will cease to be." 

"There has to be something that can be done." 

Master Zachary slowly shook his head. "It is destiny. It will come about. But shhh now, I still have a few things to teach you, and my time is short." 

Robert pulled a chair over and sat down. "I'm listening." 

"Good, now are you familiar with the chosen one? My mind addles, I forget whether or not I've told you." 

"The chosen one, the slayer. Into each generation a slayer is born, one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt the Vampires, the demons, and the creatures of darkness. Is that it?" 

"Yes, that's the one." He confirmed. "Now, the chosen one has a quite unique aura. So much so that words would not do it justice." Master Zachary leaned over and placed his hand on Robert's temple. Robert closed his eyes as the knowledge was passed over to him. 

"I see what you mean." Robert opened his eyes as the transfer completed. "So that's the aura of the chosen one?" 

"It was fifty years ago." Master Zachary paused again to cough. "Based on how long they usually live for there have been about........... twenty or so since then. But with your skill in aura reading you should easily know the chosen one when you see her. 

"So I'm to work with the slayer?" 

"No" 

"Against? I thought we were on the same side." 

"No, where you are going you may very well meet the slayer, but you are not to reveal yourself to her. We are on the same side, but the watchers council has been known to take a rather xenophobic line from time to time." 

"So they think we're on the other side?" Robert asked. 

"With very few exceptions they think everyone who isn't watchers council is on the other side." Master Zachary made over to a bookcase with some difficulty and pulled out an old and musty tome. Brushing dust off the cover he looked over at Robert, the light of knowledge was in his eyes. 

"Before I forget..." He said, pulling a box from his pocket. "Now you have completed your training the symbol of the order is yours to wear." He opened the box to reveal an amulet of gold, carved in an intricate design with a gem of amethyst at the core. The silver chain connected to it was of an appropriate length to be worn round the neck. 

"Thank you." Robert said as he took the box. 

"The symbol means very little. It's what's in here that counts." He said, tapping his chest where his heart was. "But you're letting me get distracted, there are still some things to do. Now I know I've told you a bit about the prophecy, but I've never read it in full to you. This may take some time, but it will prepare you for what is to come." Master Zachary sat down as he opened the book and started to leaf through the pages. 

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"And you didn't stop him?!?!" Buffy could hear the incredulous tone to Giles' voice even over the phone. 

"Care to remind me again how I was supposed to." 

"Yes, well, ummm. I see your point. Some good news though, Willow seems to have pulled through remarkably quickly, she's been up and about for the last ten or fifteen minutes." 

"That's good." Buffy didn't know whether it was the lack of blood or relief that was making her shoulders sag. 

"And we seem to have a quite unexpected development." 

"Oh?" 

"Yes, it seems that with your blood, Willow has gained a portion of your strength. When she hugged Oz she almost cracked ribs." 

"That's good Giles, but I'm going to have to get some sleep. Today's really taken it out of me." 

"Of course. Yes, you get some rest. I'll see if I can't track down Xander, but I don't anticipate that we'll find him unless he wants to be found. Oh, and don't worry about patrol tonight, I'll sort something out." 

"'Bye Giles." 

After putting the phone down Buffy hadn't taken more than two steps when she noticed a familiar shape rounding the corner to walk down the stairs. Thinking on her feet Buffy moved as quickly as she could into the kitchen and after turning the light on went to pour herself a glass of orange juice. 

Joyce Summers couldn't conceal her surprise as she walked into the kitchen. "My! What are you doing up so early? It isn't a schoolday you know." 

"Well, you know me, with the early bird and the worm..... and all the catching." Buffy started sipping on her drink. 

"Yes, looks like you've caught something. Are you feeling okay?" 

"Never better mom." Buffy's head swam as she took a half step back to steady herself. "Whoa.... headrush." 

"You know... you do look pale." Joyce's face was a picture of concern. "I'm sorry young lady, but you aren't going anywhere today." 

Buffy inwardly sighed with relief as she made her best exasperated face. 

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Xander shivered as he made his way down the country road towards whatever it was that awaited him. After some not so gentle persuasion Willie had told him that this is where he would find Angel and his friends, and apparently Willie always came through at a pinch... Xander paused as he rounded a corner in the road and saw his destination. The...... Chateau - there was no other word for it, looked like a picture right out on Transylvania. Okay Xander, it's daylight now so they can't get you while you're outside. You've just got to figure out a way to get in there now. 

After a good hour or so examining the building Xander decided that the best point of entry would be over into the courtyard and just waltz in through one of the weaker internal doors. He'd taken precautions to ensure that he hadn't been seen, but you can never be sure. So it was with a mixture of rage and trepidation that he climbed the largest tree that he could find growing close to the outer walls. 

"Hmmph!" Damn! Xander thought. I wanted to land more quietly than that, why not just let every vamp in the place know you've just dropped in Pulling the crossbow out of his backpack, he stopped to load it on his way over to the main doors to the interior of the building. 

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"Wha... What do you mean gone?" Willow was dumbstruck by the news from Giles. 

"Well, I'm a bit sketchy on the details. But apparently he's taken a crossbow and some stakes and gone after Angelus." 

"Like you did after Jenny.... Oops, sorry!" Willow's eyes dropped after she realised the faux pas she had made, but they came back up again almost as quickly as she locked back onto the train of thought. "But you loved Jenny. What could possibly make him......... Oh." 

"Now willow, don't worry. He's bound to see sense, annoying he may be but stupid he isn't." 

"But Xander and Angel, with the fighting. And because of me..... I.......I....." 

"Hey, Xander'll be okay." Oz chipped in, gently squeezing Willow for reassurance. "He knows how to take care of himself. Plus he's got all that combat training stuff from wherever, that's got to help." 

"But I......." Willow shuffled out of Oz's embrace and stood up, winced as she put weight on her bad ankle. Wow! I really am healing fast, half an hour ago I couldn't even stand up properly, now I can almost walk. "I had no idea he felt like that." 

Oz looked down at his feet. He'd seen the way Willow looked at Xander, he knew exactly what this could mean. 

"I....I have to go. I need to think" Willow turned to look back towards Giles as she hobbled out of the library. "Tell me If you find anything,... OK?" 

Giles nodded slowly. Oz hadn't moved perceptibly since she'd gotten up. Willow was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the swinging doors until she blundered right into them. 

Giles Winced as the right hand door was torn from it's hinges. 

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"He's coming to get our Angel." Drusilla seemed to float in circles around Spike's wheelchair. 

"Who's that pet?" Spike could feel an evil grin forming on his features as he beckoned for Dru to sit down on him. "Is that Bloody Librarian going to take another pop at Angelus? That should be fun to watch." 

"No, the friend of the Slayer." 

"What, that little runt Xander?" Spike could hardly contain the laughter. "well I suppose it might be worth the comedy value to watch. Any ideas when he's supposed to get here love?" 

"....... He's already here!" Dru gasped. 

"Well then we'd better see If we can find the little prick. Why don't you see If he's upstairs anywhere? I'll check down here." 

"Can I take miss Edith with me?" Dru cocked her head to one side. 

"Why of course love." Spike chuckled. "But do be careful, you know how hard it is to get the blood out of her clothes." 

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Angelus was deep in thought. How to kill the Slayer? Sure I could catch her alone and jump her with 10 of my best Vampires, but I want something that says "You were special". He tapped his claws listlessly on the table as he sipped a rich, deep, red liquid from a metal goblet. Ideally I could turn her. Now that would be beautiful irony, and she would make a wonderful vampire. Once we've got rid of that soul of hers, which of course goes without saying. He was broken from his reverie by a knock at his door. 

"I hope this is important!" He snarled. "I told you not to bother me." 

No answer, the knocking continues. 

"Unless you want to be exploring new career options as a sundial I suggest you either open the door or go away!" He continued snarling as his game face manifested itself. 

With a grunt the door was hefted open. Angelus made no attempt to conceal the surprise on his face as an evil laugh erupted from his mouth. "Well would you look at that! Now they deliver the food too." "Now would you put that thing away before you hurt someone with it." Angelus gestured at the crossbow as he hefted himself up out of the chair, knocking back the rest of his drink in one fluid motion. 

Angelus studied Xander for a moment. "We can stand here all day and pretend I don't know what this is all about, but you and I both know how strongly you feel about Willow. Hell, why else would I have had her attacked?" 

Xander stood speechless, the crossbow shaking in his hands as he pointed it at Angelus. 

"Don't you know?" A mocking grin spread from one side of his face to the other. "I always have ringside seats for the best fights. But that aside, do you want me to let you in on a secret?" Angel could see the confusion on Xander's face. "Thought so.... Now Willow, you're just seeing her in a new light aren't you?.............." 

Xander's head cocked to one side "Get on with it." 

"Well, you see. The Irony is that she felt that way about you for..... Ooooh about 10 years. And you were too Fucking blind to notice it. Now, wasn't that nice of me, now you can go and be all stupid and sentimental with her, but that would imply that you're going to leave this room alive." Angelus' face took on a new malevolence as he advanced toward Xander and raised his arm to block the crossbow bolt shooting out toward him. 


	2. Awakenings Chapter 2

Awakenings 2

Buffy could hear the incessant tapping on her door. Without getting up from her chair she shouted as loud as she could be bothered. 

"Come in, it's open." 

The door was pushed open a good deal more slowly than Buffy expected, and Willow half stepped, half hobbled into the room. 

"Hi Buffy. How..... How are you feeling?" 

"Tired." Buffy Replied. "But aside from that, worried." 

"Worried?" 

"Yeah, how are you coping?" 

"Fine, never better." Willow straightened up as if to emphasise herself. "look, strong as a very strong thing. But look at you, you're hardly yourself. I mean,... I've never seen you so tired." 

"I'll be okay in a few days Will." Buffy half smiled. "I can tell you want to talk Sit down, we've got some serious talking to do, and I'm not letting you go until you feel better. Okay?" 

Willow Almost collapsed onto the bed as the facade she had been maintaining fell in upon itself. "I don't know what to do! Yesterday everything was fine. Well it's only been sort of okay since Angelus lost his soul, but it was good - not horribly scrunched up and spirally like it is now! Oh! and I put a dent in your front door, I'm sorry. sometimes I don't know my own strength what with pulling doors off hinges and breaking Oz and stuff. How do you cope with all this power?" 

Buffy sat up with some effort and raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry about the door, for the last two years according to mom girls don't know their own strength. It was some other door you pulled off the hinges and not mine right?" 

Willow nodded solemnly. 

"Okay, now before I can understand the story I need to hear it at warp factor 2 or below. But first we need food. My weakened state has sent mom on a nutritional guilt trip so non-healthy food is reserved for emotional crisis or mother-daughter moments, other than that name your chosen food." 

"Do you think we can get Ice cream?" 

"It's an outside chance but I think I can manage it." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Buffy and Willow lay spread out across the floor of Buffy's room. The Ice cream had arrived and had definitely been a catalyst for talk. 

"......It's just that I don't feel safe at all anymore," Willow mused as the swallowed a mouthful of the ice cream. "You do know what I mean don't you.... It was like when I found out that Angelus could come into my house and kill my fish and stuff, but only worse." 

Buffy nodded slowly, her brow creased with thought. "We have to get you some confidence training." 

"Confidence training?" The confusion and fear in Willow's voice was evident. 

"Yeah, you know when Giles puts all that padding on and I sort of fight him?" 

Willow smiled. "Oh yeah, he looks so much like the Michelin man when you do that." 

"See, you can smile, you just don't know it. Anyway we'll see If Giles can't put you through some of that tonight, With some training and all of that blood of mine you've got you should be able to show just about any vamp who's boss!" 

"I might just do that." The beginnings of the resolve face were starting to form. 

"Are we feeling good now? because I have to start on a difficult subject." 

"Like what?" 

"Xander. I've been dodging this issue for the past couple of hours but you need to get it off your back." 

"When I was In the library, I was just waking up and Xander was talking to me..... I don't think he knew I could hear him." 

"What did he say" 

"He ....... It isn't important." Willow shook her head adamantly. 

"I'm sensing major relationshippy things here and that's always important. Besides you should talk about it, you can't carry it around forever." 

"Nono, carrying is good. and I carry like noone else, I carried how I felt about Xander since kindergarten and I can carry this too." 

"Yeah, and look what it's done to you! Nothing good can come of keeping it bottled up like this." 

Willow sighed and visibly sagged to the floor. "He said that he loved me." 

"Wow...." There was a Thud as the tub of ice cream tumbled from Buffy's hand to the floor. 

"I could hear the pain in his voice and I knew that it was me lying there hurt like that which caused it. I was so busy waiting for him to see me the same way that I saw him that I forgot how much he cared about me." 

"He's changed." Buffy had retrieved the tub and stood it on the floor. "The way he was talking about you was just ........ different. I think he does see you like that now." 

"I hadn't dared to think that. But Oz......" 

"Do you know what you're going to do?" 

"No. I mean, I love Oz..... I think, but Xander....... And they both love me......... And I don't know what to do about it." Willow cupped her face in her hands. 

"Willow...." Buffy gently pulled away the hands that covered Willow's face. "I might not be the best person to give advice on relationships, given my track record..... but one thing I can say is follow your heart, whatever happens will be for the best." 

Willow nodded slowly. "I know. And I know what I've got to do. I just wish it didn't hurt so much." 

"welcome to love, life and difficult decisions. I think it does get less painful from here on in." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Angelus hauled Xander up by his jacket, Xander clawed in vain at the crossbow bolt sticking out of Angelus' right shoulder in a futile attempt to gain some purchase. "Okay, one more time..... The heart is on the left hand side.... THE LEFT! I thought you of all people would remember that." With a snarl of contempt Xander was thrown across the room. 

Xander groaned as he struggled to make his body respond properly. His left arm didn't work, but that had stopped working after the first time Angelus had thrown him across the room. What a great time to get your left and your right mixed up Xander, that's about as smart as going after Angelus alone because you're guilty that you let Willow get hurt! His eyes could just about focus on Angelus as he stood over him. Neither of them noticed the figure that had come in and was now seated in the shadows. 

"Well I don't know about you, but I've had fun. But as we both know, all good things must come to an end." 

Angelus reached over Xander's prone form to pull a sword off a rack on the wall. With all the effort he could muster Xander kicked out at Angelus' legs, bracing his back against the wall as he did so. The sword slipped from Angelus' hand as his legs were pushed out from under him. Xander desperately rolled to one side and just managed to avoid having Angelus land on him. 

Xander hauled himself up to his knees and fumbled for the sword that he knew was on the floor next to him. His fumblings were rewarded with success and he looked up as he felt the handle within his grasp. 

Angelus was still on the floor, he looked to have hit his head on something, and although he was moving it was slowly. Fighting the dizziness Xander pulled himself up to his feet. He staggered the few paces over to put himself close enough, and brought the sword down on Angelus' neck, at least he would have if Angelus was still there. 

No vamp, no dust, no nothing. He caught sight of a movement in the corner of his eye, followed by the agonising pain as the kick forced his knee into a shape it should have never had to assume. The sword dropped from his hand to the floor with a staccato rattling sound, as Xander concentrated every fibre of his being on not crying out in agony. 

"That really, REALLY PISSED ME OFF!" Xander looked to the side to see Angelus' demonic face leering at him. 

Then it hit Angelus. 

There was a dull clank as the large metallic object caught Angelus full in the shoulder, throwing him from his feet. 

"That'll teach you to take my Bloody girl you Bastard! You wouldn't believe how long I've been waiting to do this." Spike strode over to Xander and swept the sword up from it's resting place on the floor. "Don't go anywhere mate, I'll do you in a minute." He snarled over his shoulder to Xander. 

Angelus groaned as he heaved the wheelchair off him and started to get up. Spike strode over and kicked Angelus in the face, knocking him to the floor again. 

"you've just got no respect have you? You enjoyed playing with her, and you enjoyed watching me suffer because of it." 

Angelus half got to his feet before he was knocked down again. 

"Well guess what? That's how much I'm going to enjoy this!" Spike dealt a savage backhanded blow to the face of Angelus' kneeling form. In one fluid motion he spun round and brought the sword down, severing head from shoulder. 

The fountain of blood that usually accompanies a decapitated body was conspicuous by it's absence. Angelus' head had just enough time to hit the ground and roll before it started to disintegrate. Xander watched in confusion as the vampire that had been Angelus fell to the floor, destined to be entombed in a vacuum cleaner somewhere. Spike cast the sword to the ground and strode back over to Xander, chuckling as he saw the confusion on the boy's face. 

"You still don't have a bloody clue do you?...... All I can say is never come between a guy and his girl." He shot Xander a savage look. 

"Now the question is what are we going to do about you?" 

"Well you could just let me go home, or even better, you could phone an ambulance for me." Xander grimaced as he said the words, mentally running through precisely how messed up he was. 

"Now that is an amusing idea, unfortunately it's not going to happen. But you have done me a favour, so I'm going to return it. I'm not going to kill you..........." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The sun hung high in the sky as Robert walked around the outside of the mansion, carefully shielding the bunch of flowers in his hand from the undergrowth that overhung the side of the path 

"You should go now, you're going to miss your flight" Master Zachary said from behind him. Robert smiled as he turned around. It was if a good twenty years had come off, Master Zachary was standing straight, the colour was in his cheeks and a spark in his eyes. 

"There's just one thing I have to do first." Robert said as he entered the garden. 

"Foolish sentimentality." Master Zachary scoffed. "Why do you entertain it so gladly?" 

"It's what separates us from those things we fight." Robert replied. "Don't tell me you've forgotten all you taught me." 

"I was just making sure you remember it. There are testing times ahead." Master Zachary said as they neared the bottom of the garden. 

"You've done well." Master Zachary said, looking at the pile of stones at the bottom of the garden. "You have my thanks." 

"I only wish I'd had time to make a headstone." Robert sighed "It just doesn't seem right without one." 

"You did what you could, that's what counts. I wish I could stay longer, but I've remained here much longer than I should have already." With That Master Zachary seemed to fade away until nothing remained at all. Robert knelt down, placing the flowers carefully onto the grave. "Goodbye Master...... You will be missed." He said quietly to himself, and whatever else may have been listening. Then he rose slowly from his kneeling position and started to traverse his way back to the house. He had a plane to catch, and destiny wouldn't wait. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Rupert Giles stalked, Stake in one hand and cross in the other. Mentally cursing the chain of events that had led to him being out, patrolling for vampires with only Oz for backup. 

He was about to take a step forwards when Oz's arm moved across his chest. 

"What is it now?" He whispered. 

"Don't go that way." 

Giles gave him a quizzical look. "And might I ask why?" 

"Couple, big smoochies. Not to be interrupted." Oz paused for a moment. "And two people just behind us being seriously stealthy." 

Giles nodded. "On three. One.....Two.......Three." 

Giles and Oz both spun round, attempting to plunge their stakes into the chests of their would be assailants. Buffy intercepted Oz's stake and snatched it from his hand before taking a step back to allow Oz to absorb the situation. Willow panicked. Her mind shut down and something from deep down inside of her took over. She grasped Giles' arm and turned in towards him, shifting his centre of gravity over her right shoulder and Giles with it. 

"Hey, only me! No slaying the slayer." Buffy looked as innocent as possible as she handed the stake back to Oz. 

"So what are you doing out here? I thought you were in a no-slaying zone for the next few days." 

Buffy gestured over towards Willow. Giles was getting up off the ground, and being helped by Willow. 

"Ooops, sorry! Buffy said that I needed training to control my new found strength." 

"Yes, I think this is one time when Buffy and I are in total agreement." Giles said, rubbing his head. 

"It's not like we're going to do particularly well patrolling in our current conditions." Buffy Commented. "What do you say? No time like the present?......" 

"I'd say I'm quite surprised. This lack of blood seems to have precipitated an alarming mental clarity in you. I think you should give blood more often." 

"Thanks........ I think." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Xander Squinted as his eyes attempted to adjust to the low light conditions. He looked down at his leg, something was wrong. Last time he remembered his leg would have passed as roadkill, but now aside from the torn trousers it was fine. Slowly he got to his feet, feeling for all the bruises that were conspicuous by their absence. My other arm works too, something is very wrong. He strained to force his mind back, the fight with Angelus was crystal clear, up to a point. He knew that Angelus was dead, but he couldn't remember how no matter ho hard he tried. He looked around as his low light adjustments completed themselves. He was definitely in a cell of some kind and a none too hospitable one either, no bed, no windows, no nothing, just the wrought iron door with what looked like a sliding flap on it. As he examined the door part of him screamed out "Just break the thing open, it's not exactly difficult." Xander shook his head to think straight That door must weigh like half a ton or something, there's no way I can move it. . Morbid curiosity overcame his disbelief long enough for Xander to convince himself that it wouldn't hurt to try. Gathering all of his strength Xander braced himself on the back wall of the cell. Think coiled spring, coiled spring.... Then he was across the room and slamming shoulder first into the door. It hurt, boy did it hurt. Xander was tempted to sink to the floor of his corridor right there and then. 

Corridor?!?! Xander checked, he was in fact out in the corridor just outside his cell. The door had taken up residence half way into the opposite wall and Xander was leaning on it at this very moment. Xander looked up to see A vampire starting down the corridor towards him. The rational part of him said to be very afraid, but the door experience had robbed it of credence somewhat. What about the part that had told him to break the door? Xander turned to this new found part of himself for advice, he knew in that instant that the vamp was nowhere near as strong as he was. Putting the sceptical part of his brain to one side he advanced on the Vampire. 

He saw the first blow before it was even launched and intercepted the Vampire's hand with his own. He saw the desperation in the vampire's face as he grabbed and twisted, smiling in grim satisfaction as he felt the tendons and ligaments start to give. Just as the cracking sounds became audible over the vampire's screams he savagely plunged his fist into it's midriff, causing it to bend over double, this was followed by his releasing the vampire's hand and pumping a double handed blow upwards into the vampire's face. The vampire was fully lifted off the floor by the blow and landed some 10 or so feet away, not moving. Xander stepped over the unconscious body and towards the steps that presumably led up and out of this place. He casually wondered how the rest of the gang would react to his actions, he knew they would be seriously pissed off, but he was only mildly shocked to discover that he didn't really care. 

A dark shape appeared at the top of the stairs, Xander cocked his head to one side as he tried to identify it. 

"Oh Bloody hell! Now look what you've done, don't make me come down there and kick your ass!" 

Spike. 

Xander stopped as the events of the past few hours slowly returned to him. He hadn't killed Angelus, Spike had. Another thought entered Xander's head. cautiously he felt for his canines with his fingers. Yep, two big fat sharp vampire teeth.............. HOLY SHIT! 

"Why?" 

"Well, we couldn't have you going back to being the pathetic little Xander Harris. Not after it looked like you were starting to grow a backbone." 

Xander stood silent in thought for a moment. He was right, you know. The old Xander would never have gotten out of that cell. He would have sat in one corner, wallowing in self pity and waiting for the slayer to rescue him. Xander glanced over at the unconscious body behind him. And that vampire would've kicked his ass. 

At the top of the stairs Spike cleared his throat. "Right, now you've had your quiet period of self reflection it's time for you to help me kill the slayer and all of her pesky little friends." 

"No." 

"Excuse me?" 

"What you said just now,... not going to happen." 

Spike sighed. "Let me run a little concept by you. You vampire, her slayer. That means she slays you, or you kill her." 

Xander started forward up the stairs. "I don't have a problem with killing the slayer." 

"Then why the bloody hell did you say no?" 

"Willow." 

Spike started smiling. 

"She's mine." Xander continued. "I'm going to make her one of my own. The rest of them I'll kill for you." 

"That's fighting talk if there ever was. But don't think the slayer's going to drop dead because she happens to think of you as a nice person. I think Angelus proved that." 

"Sounds almost like you have a plan there." 

"Well, Angelus had this actually rather good plan, seeing as you killed him I'm handing the plan over to you. It's this way, I'll show you." 

"I didn't kill Angelus" Xander corrected. "You did." 

"You did now." 

"Any reason in particular?" 

"Dru happened to like him." Spike winced as he said the words. "Now with you she can let it slide because you weren't yourself, if you get what I mean." 

Xander nodded. "So if she ever found out about it being you........." 

If Spike had been human there would have been a sharp intake of breath. He opened his mouth to say something, but after a moment of silence it closed again. 

Xander looked up, straight into Spike's eyes. "Remember that." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Willow twisted round to one side as she propelled herself off the floor with one leg, her other foot coming up into a savage side kick that her opponent blocked with some difficulty. Slowly she rose from the crouch that she had landed in and mopped the sweat from her forehead with one sleeve as she looked across at her opponent. "How about that one?" 

Giles worked his wrist back and forth as if trying to gauge whether or not any of the damage was getting through the padded guard he was using. "Not bad, but you're still leaving yourself wide open after you finish the kick. You have to be back up and fighting as soon as you land, If I was a vampire I wouldn't have waited for you to get up." 

Willow looked down at the floor. I'm too tired for this now, we've been doing it for two whole hours." 

"Of course." Giles responded. "This training is entirely for your own benefit, any time you need to take a break just say. With you doing as well as you were at the start it's easy to forget you aren't a slayer. I think you've done enough training for one day. There's always tomorrow, and if you've had some rest you can start fresh." 

Willow nodded. "So when do I get lesson two?" 

"Monday, after school. Buffy's going to be training then. It's as well for both of you to be there. Just a moment, I'll go and wake the other two up." Giles peeled some of the more encumbering padding off as he hobbled over to the Librarian's office. He walked into the office to see Oz sitting in his chair rolling a crystalline orb about the size of a tennis ball back and forth between his hands. 

"Shhh, she's asleep." Oz said quietly, pointing over in Buffy's direction. Buffy was asleep on the bench, curled up in a foetal position. 

"Do be careful with that." Giles scolded. "It's an orb of Thessulah, a means of contacting the spirit world. It's very valuable." 

"And yet it makes a surprisingly good paperweight." Oz observed. "So, Willow finished with the training for now?" 

Giles nodded "Yes. She shows a remarkable proficiency considering the circumstances. I think she missed her calling, so to speak." 

"A piece of advice." Oz said. "Humour; not your talent." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Spike pushed open the door at the top of the stairs and beckoned Xander to follow in. The room was spartan except for the fireplace and the long wooden table flanked by chairs. Xander looked to see one of the most beautiful women he'd seen in a long time sprawled atop the table. There was something familiar about her, like he'd seen her before. But he couldn't quite place it. 

"So where's this almighty plan of yours?" Xander asked 

"First things first." Spike replied, walking over to the table. "Dru? Honey, did you miss me?" 

"Mmmmm. The wind's been saying the most cruel things about you...... But I wouldn't believe it." Dru sat up, stroking Spike's chin with her hand. "Would you believe it, my precious?" 

"Not unless it told me you were the most beautiful woman in the world." Spike replied, cupping Dru's waist in his hands. "But you haven't met the newest member of our family yet." 

Drusilla's Eyes snapped wide open as she noticed Xander in the background. She hopped off the table and walked over to him. "You........." She said, pointing at him. "Are a very naughty boy!" 

"Mmmmm. Spank me." Xander replied. 

There was the barest of pauses before all three of them simultaneously burst into laughter. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Xander sat at the table, studying the newspaper page. Spike sat on the other side of the table, Dru in his lap. 

"I must be missing something here." Xander said, pointing to the picture in the paper. "Because It looks like a big rock to me." 

"That's what I said too. But apparently there's some big bad demon in there who can suck the world down into hell." 

"So we go and let him out then he can do the bad thing." 

"Not quite that simple." Spike put an open book down in front of Xander. "That." He said, tapping a section of the page. "Is the ritual we need to do to wake our boy acathla up." 

"Great..." Xander said sarcastically. "I was research boy for Giles, and now I get to do the book thing for you pair as well." 

"Don't worry." Spike replied. "You'll still get to have fun." 

"You need to eat." Dru said. "So that you can grow up big and strong like my Spike." 

"I trust you have some suitable fun lined up." Spike grinned, showing his teeth. 

"Yeah." Xander said. "I'm going to kill Oz. 

"Who?" Spike asked. 

"We're off to kill the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..." Dru sang. 

"Short guy, variable hair colour. Plays in a band. Willow's soon to be posthumous boyfriend." Xander answered. "When he dies she'll turn to me...." 

"And you'll turn her." Spike finished. 

"That's about the size of it." 

"I'm not happy with you." Dru said to the pair of them. "You weren't listening to my singing." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Willow woke up, and instantly wished that she hadn't. There wasn't a part of her that didn't hurt. She batted her hand out to silence the alarm clock. The sound of cracking plastic and the warbling of the alarm clock as it died roused her into full awareness far more effectively than the alarm clock ever had. 

"Uhhh, now look what I've done." She muttered to herself. "It's a good thing mom and dad are out of town for the weekend or they'd be wigging so badly by now." 

Slowly Willow got out of bed and switched her computer on. She stared in dismay at the long list of sent e-mails, none of which Xander had replied to. She'd helped set his computer up herself; the only way he wouldn't know about those e-mails was if he hadn't been back to his room yet. She thought about going over there to check, but dismissed it almost as quickly. Xander's parents would be far too hung over at this time in the morning to appreciate it. It was a pity. She wanted so badly to talk to him, to know how he felt. She couldn't make her decision without knowing that. She sighed, there wasn't a whole lot she could do right now. Reaching for her school books she looked at the homework assignments she'd been given for the weekend. With all the action on Saturday she was well behind schedule. Besides, homework always made her feel better. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Robert Sherman squinted as he stepped out of the bus and into the glaring Sunnydale sunshine. Stopping to collect the suitcase that contained the sum total of all his possessions. The other people getting off the bus rushed about their business as if nothing was even slightly amiss. It was probably a good thing they couldn't see this place the way he could. No wonder the slayer was needed here. He glanced down at his copy of the town map. A friendly demon had sold him the "enhanced" version in exchange for a few arcane blessings. 

"Ahh. A lost soul in search of accommodation." 

Robert eyed the short balding man suspiciously. "You reek of demon." 

"Well, reek is such a strong word." Willie recriminated. "You could use less offensive language. I have feelings here too." 

Robert raised an eyebrow. 

"Anyway." Willie continued. "You look like you could use somewhere off the beaten track. If you get what I mean. And I have just the place. $100 a week, negotiable. Minimal questions asked. What'd'ya say?" 

"You don't strike me as the generous type. Where's the catch?" 

"Again you go with the insults." Willie procrastinated. "I'm very hurt here that I can't do people favours and have them accepted in good faith." 

Robert raised an eyebrow. "Where's the catch?" 

"No catch, really. And you won't think I'm so generous after you've seen the place. But you won't find a better offer on such short notice. Not without all those pesky little questions." 

"If It's as bad as you say you can let it go for $50 a week." Robert commented. 

"$75, and I'm slitting my own throat here." Willie said. 

"Done." Robert said. 

"Right this way then." 

Robert shook his head. Prophecies did have a funny way of coming true. He'd have thought that wild horses couldn't have dragged him here. But here he was, so close to the mouth of hell he could practically smell it. If the rest of the prophecy held up, the next few days were not going to be fun. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Xander looked up at the crescent moon riding high in the sky as he walked to the Bronze. He could feel the hunger now. Spike had said it might take a day or so to really set in, but it was there with a vengeance now. He stopped as he noticed the girl walking up behind him, she'd do just fine. Carefully he manoeuvred himself s that she caught the back of his heel with her own foot, putting his new found dexterity to use he faked a fall as best he could. 

"Oufff!" Xander made as convincing exclamation of pain as he could as he landed face down in the gutter. 

"Ohmygod! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" The girl scrambled over to help him up. 

Xander groaned as he got up onto his knees. "Yeah. I might me concussed, but I think I'll live. How about you?" Xander pretended to force a smile as he looked at the girl. She was quite a catch. Young, her blood was pure, even he could smell that. She would taste good. 

"Do you want any help? I can help you to the hospital if you want." She looked up and down at him as she helped him to his feet. She could excuse the clothes being as she had probably ruined most of them, even with that taken into account he wasn't really all that. She wouldn't even be looking twice at him if not for the aura of confidence he seemed to be wearing like a cloak. 

"I don't think I'm quite a hospital case." He replied smiling inwardly to himself as he noticed the look in her eyes. He could get used to this. "But I tell you what.... I know a quite good all night cafe round here. I could use a drink and a sit down, and you look like you could use someone to talk to, or at least to listen to you. What do you say?" 

She smiled as she linked her arm through his. "Okay.... By the way, what's your name?" 

Xander paused a moment, his brow creased in thought. A name was so much more than what people said when they wanted your attention, your name carried with it your whole life. He didn't need that. 

"Alex." he responded. "You?" 

"Lisa" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The silence was split by her scream. A terrible, primal sound of fear she made as she scrambled away and sprinted down the alleyway as fast as she could. Xander watched her for a moment, relishing in the shock and fear that had erupted when she saw his face. She wasn't going to make it, but it was more fun if she didn't know that. 

The trash bags and the dumpsters flashed by her as she ran, the only sound audible to her was her own breathing as her heart raced in terror. With a rush of air a dark shape dropped down in front of her. Unable to stop in time she collided with the figure and bounced away, landing on the floor a few feet distant. She looked up at the figure, who seemed completely unmoved by the impact and her eyes widened in terror as she saw the two fangs glinting in the bright moonlight. Frantically she scrambled backwards, but his saunter easily closed the ground as he reached down and clasped his hand around her neck. Ignoring her retchings he hauled her up and pinned her against the wall, seemingly with no effort whatsoever. As his eyes met hers her struggling ceased. It was over now, she at least knew that much. A wicked smile played across his features, despair was just as sweet an elixir as terror. Gripping her by her shoulders he planted her feet on the ground. She remained dumbfounded, her glassy eyes staring plaintively into his. Reverting to his human face he caressed her cheek. 

"Shhh now." He whispered "Shhh." 

She shuddered slightly as the tears began to flow. "What...... are you?" She whimpered. 

"Shhh, Shhh" He whispered again as his body moved closer to hers. "All be over soon." He said as his hand moved down to the curve of her neck, his vampire face manifesting itself again out of her sight. He felt her back arch in pain as he sunk his fangs in. Her mouth open in a silent scream she tried in vain to push him away with all of her failing strength. Her vision faded first to a murky grey twilight, then to black as consciousness left her altogether. 

Xander slammed the empty vessel against the wall, staring up at the sky as the new blood flowed through him, invigorating and rejuvenating him. letting the body slide down to the floor he looked into the dead eyes for a moment. 

"Was it good for you too?" He quipped as he walked off down the alley.


	3. Awakenings Chapter 3

Awakenings 3

Not for the first time Buffy was glad that it was a slow night. She shook her head as she walked down the street, mentally damning her conscience which had demanded her patrolling despite her condition. Giles didn't know about this, there was enough to worry about without her being added to the list. She was just walking round to the front of the Bronze when the first sounds of the fight reached her. 

"Oh well, guess nothing was too much to hope for." She muttered as she pulled a stake out and started running in the direction of the fight. 

She arrived just in time to see the first vampire disintegrate as it flew through the air away from the fight. Standing back she observed the other two combatants. Neither of them were natural, that much was for sure. One ducked under the other's clumsily delivered right hook, planting a knee in the small of the back and an elbow to the face in fast succession. One straight armed blow to the chest later and it was all over as the vampire fell back against the side of the alley and disintegrated. Buffy moved closer to the figure, who was wincing as he rubbed his shoulder. 

"Well, that was good. Not many people can do that." She said 

Robert Sherman looked up at the girl who addressed him. 

"You should go, It's not safe for you here." He replied. 

"You mean you DON'T know who I am?" Buffy looked at him, the look was certainly of someone who was out here doing a job. Clothes, demeanour.... It was all functional, almost as bad as Kendra. 

Robert looked at her more closely. Her aura bore some resemblance to that of the chosen one, but only just. had he only taken a glance he could have mistaken it, but it was just too different for it to be so. "I don't know who you are." He replied. "But I know who you aren't and that means it's not safe for you here." 

"We can finish this later." Buffy said, gesturing over his shoulder. "Looks like those two had friends." 

Robert turned to see the three vampires striding purposefully down the alley toward them. He quickly assumed a fighting stance, gathering again the energy that had dissipated since the last fight. He glanced to his side to see Buffy had likewise assumed a fighting stance beside him. 

"Go!" He shouted. "I can take them, but not if I have to protect you at the same time." 

"Funny." Buffy replied. "I was just about to say the same thing." 

Then the vampires were upon them. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The security guard paced back and forth across the storeroom. Pausing occasionally to take a mouthful out of what he could only guess to be cheese sandwich he studied the newest arrival. The monolith was certainly one of the less interesting things to come in over the last few days. He walked over to the inventory sheet pinned to the wall and leafed through the pages. 

"......Here we are." He muttered to himself as he found the pertaining entry: One monolith of unknown origin, found 5 miles away on the new housing estate. Age indiscernible pending carbon dating. Apparently some "expert" was supposed to have taken a look at it, but the appointment had been postponed. He read the name again. No that couldn't be right he thought to himself, it couldn't be that school librarian his daughter had been complaining about so much. 

He never got a chance to finish that thought as a clawed hand gripped the back of his neck and slammed him headfirst into the wall. 

Throwing the guard to the floor Spike turned to Dru who was standing in the doorway along with 5 other vampires. 

"It's been too long since I did that." He said, looking down at the body writhing in agony on the floor. "He's all yours Dru." 

"Don't you want any at all?" She asked, deftly plucking the man off the floor and holding him with his neck exposed. 

"No thanks love." He said, pointing at the sandwich on the floor. "I think that's put me off food for the night." 

As Dru bit down hungrily on the man's neck he turned to the other vampires, who were still standing in the doorway. "What are you waiting for people?..... I'm not paying you by the hour here." He smiled to himself as the vampires scrambled to work. The slayer had put him through hell ever since he came here. Now he would get to return the favour......Literally 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Robert deflected the first vampire's attack and planted a kick square in it's chest, lifting it clean off it's feet. The energy flowed through him, accelerating and empowering his movements as he fought the vampires. 

To his side Buffy grasped one of the vampires by the arm and used all of her strength to swing it round into the wall. The vampire fell backwards onto the floor and lay dazed for a moment. That was all the time needed for the stake to find it's mark. 

Robert delivered a series of quick jabs to the face of the vampire he fought, deftly avoiding it's increasingly uncoordinated return blows. None of the vampires had managed to lay a hand on him yet; this was a good thing because he bruised easily. 

Buffy turned to face the last of the three vampires. 

"Well, It's a fashion statement." She said as she observed the footprint plastered across it's chest. 

The vampire leapt at her but Buffy ducked out of the way, sending it tumbling to the floor. However, it was back on it's feet and fighting before she could end it's unlife. 

Robert grasped the vampire's leg as it kicked at him and hiked it into the air, sending the vampire tumbling to the ground. He stood over the vampire ready to finish it, and cursed himself for not having built up the energy to do so. 

"Forget something?" Buffy shouted as the stake sailed through the air toward him. 

He plucked the stake from the air and drove it through the vampire's heart, ending it there and then. 

Buffy turned her attention back to her opponent just in time to receive a stinging punch in the face. As she staggered back the vampire kicked out, catching her on the hip and sending her sprawling to the floor. As she lay on the floor the vampire stood over her with an evil smile. 

"I'm really going to enjoy this now..." It snarled. 

"Then we have something in common." Robert called from behind it. 

The vampire turned around in surprise just in time for Robert to grab it and throw it to one side. The vampire landed against the wall, but was up on it's feet almost instantly as Robert charged at it. The vampire caught the kick on it's guard and staggered back a few paces instead of falling over as Robert had intended. 

"Getting tired?" The vampire mocked. "All that fighting must be really hard on that frail human body of yours." 

Buffy shook her head to clear it as she got up onto her knees. "Maybe Giles was right about me not going anywhere tonight." She muttered. 

Robert fell back as he attempted to stop the vampire's furious assault. A split second too late in blocking one of the attacks, the vampire's kick winged him in the side of the ribs, knocking him to the ground. The stake made a clattering noise as it flew from his hand and skittered across the alley floor. Robert didn't notice the amulet as it fell from his neck into the gutter. 

Buffy got to her feet and grimaced as she saw the current state of the fight. Shrugging she reached down to one of her boots and pulled out another stake. Leaping at the vampire she plunged the stake into it's back. In reaction the vampire snarled as it threw her off and into a nearby pile of rubbish bags. It turned to face her, then it saw it's hands disintegrating. It looked on in horror for the next half second it took for the decomposition to complete. 

Robert groaned as he got up off the floor, and Buffy made similar noises as she extricated herself from the pile of rubbish bags. 

"You hurt?" Robert asked, bending down to retrieve the stake that had fallen to the ground when the vampire had died. 

"No, I'm okay" She said, slowly getting to her feet. "Almost really." 

Robert handed the stake back to Buffy, wincing at the pain in his side. "So I take it that was a fairly normal occurrence here." 

"Yep, Sunnydale's your regular Hellmouth town. Full of vampires and demons and whatever category you fall into. What would that be by the way?" 

"The "not going to tell you" category." He responded. 

"Figures..." Buffy sighed. "Too much to ask for it to be simple. We should go and see my watcher though, an extra pair of slaying hands would be very useful at the moment." 

Robert shook his head. "I'm afraid they don't like me very much. I'll be around and I'll help, but it's best the council doesn't know about it." 

Buffy shook her head. "We're going to go and see my watcher and I'm not going to take no for an answer. I'll just get the other stake and then we'll go." Buffy turned around to look for the stake, but it wasn't anywhere she could see right away. 

"Y'know, forget the stake. It's not important....." She said turning around. She frowned as she scanned the alley, there was no sign of him anywhere. 

"Just great....." She muttered under her breath. "Someone else who does the vanishing thing." Just then she caught the glint of light off the amulet lying in the gutter. 

"What do we have here..." She said to herself, picking it up. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Willow Stared forlornly at her plate, no different than it was twenty minutes ago when she had sat down to eat it. The school canteen was buzzing, but the room might as well be empty. Xander wasn't there. She looked up and caught sight of Oz, leaning against the far wall, with the same kind of sadness in his eyes. It was her he was looking at. She looked for a moment at the comfort food nestling on her plate before prodding it listlessly a few times with her fork. When She looked up from her plate Buffy had sat down next to her. 

"You've not seen him either huh?" Buffy asked. 

"No." Willow shook her head. "I even hacked into the medical records at the hospital last night." 

"He's not a hospital case." Buffy commented. "This is a good thing." 

"Unless he's a morgue case." Willow said quietly. 

"Now listen. He's going to be okay." Buffy remonstrated. "Except for when I beat seven shades of hell out of him for being such a jerk and not telling us." 

Willow almost managed a smile. 

"You know you've got to talk to Oz." Buffy continued. "He's moping almost as badly as you are, and he didn't even like Xander that much." 

"I know." Willow answered, looking at Oz on the other side of the room. "Every time I see him it's like "Look, there's somebody in pain, And I caused that." It's because of me that Oz is hurting so much, and it's because of me that Xander went AWOL in the first place." Willow looked back down at her food, she could feel the lump in her throat. 

"Okay, I'm not helping you with the feeling good about yourself bit." Buffy said. "I would stay, but I have one Cordelia to find and....... It could get ugly. Believe it or not I think she actually does care about him." 

"Cordelia...." Willow stared listlessly down at her food. "She does. That's someone else who's life I get to throw into turmoil." 

"Promise me you'll talk to Oz.... You know it isn't going to get easier if you leave it, and it might just make you feel better." 

"Okay." Willow across at Buffy. "Oh, and Giles wanted to talk to you. He seemed more worked up than usual." 

"He's probably just worried too..... But I'll swing by there anyway, just in case." As Buffy got up from the table a mischievous grin sprouted on her face. "Or maybe he wanted me to help fit the new door." 

Willow couldn't help but smile at that. 

"Right, now I've got you smiling my work here is done. I'll see you in English class." Buffy said as she walked out of the canteen. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Buffy deftly stepped around the one remaining door and into the library. Greeted by the usual plethora of arcane and occult books and the unusual sight of Cordelia siting in the library on her own, buried in one of the books. 

Cordelia looked up as Buffy entered. 

"Giles told me about Xander." She said simply. 

"You seem to be handling it well." Buffy commented. 

"I know how to hide these things." She responded. "Besides, I look much better when I'm acting happy and jubilant." 

Buffy nodded. "So where's Giles?" 

Giles chose just that moment to emerge from his office, carrying a particularly old and dusty tome. 

"Speak of the devil...." Buffy commented. 

"....And he doth appear." Giles muttered. "I'm glad you came. The situation doesn't appear to be particularly fortuitous." 

"What is it? Is the world going to end? Am I going to die again? 'Cause that's something I'd rather not do." 

"Possibly both." Giles answered. "I've found mention of the demon Acathla in several books of prophecy Including the Codex. The demon Acathla will rise and............" 

"I'm going do die?...... Again?" Buffy cut in. 

"Worse." Cordelia answered for Giles. 

"How can it be worse than dying?" Buffy's voice was rising in pitch. 

"If the prophecy reads correctly,... Then you will be turned, and before the end of the week." The pain in Giles' eyes was evident as he said the words. 

"Where? Show me!" Buffy shouted. 

Cordelia pulled one of the books across and started reading from it. "And in this time the Chosen one shall become as those she fights: Shunned by the daylight for her thirst for blood." 

For a brief moment there was utter silence. 

"That's fairly specific." Buffy finally said in a fairly subdued tone. "So what about this demon Acathla then?" She said, almost collapsing into a chair. 

"The demon Acathla...." Giles said, putting the book down and picking another up. ".....Came forth to swallow the world. He was slain by a great warrior who pierced his heart before he could draw breath to perform the act. Acathla turned to stone, powerful demons sometimes do. And he was buried where neither man or demon would want to look." 

"Stabbed through the heart,.... Dead. Right?" Buffy asked. 

"No. Merely dormant. According to the books, the sword that pierced his heart remains there. If anyone were ever to remove it....." 

"They'd get to be king?" Buffy asked sarcastically. 

Giles looked raised an eyebrow and looked dumbfounded at her. 

"Oh, come on. Did they not have The sword in the stone when you were a kid?" Buffy responded. 

"If anyone were to remove it...." Giles continued. "...The demon will rise, creating a vortex that will suck this world, and everything in it down to Hell." 

"That easy? Just pull the sword out?" Buffy asked. 

"Not quite. A complex ritual is involved." Giles looked down at the book as he spoke. "However, should Angelus endeavour to perform the ritual there is a good chance he should succeed." 

"And we're all preoccupied while he sets it up..... Not bad." Buffy commented. "Okay.... Can you find out more about the me becoming a Vampire part: See if there's an escape clause anywhere, 'cause I really like my reflection." She said, getting up to walk out of the Library. 

"You aren't going to help?" Giles asked. 

"I need to study for my finals." Buffy responded. "Otherwise if the world doesn't end and I'm still in the land of the living, I'll fail all my exams and get kicked out of school. I don't know about you, but that's not a chance I want to take." She said walking up to and through the library doors. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Willow Paced in front of Oz's locker. She hadn't managed to work up the courage to talk to him at lunch, and this was the last chance she would get before school finished. As she paced back and forth, occasionally stopping to fiddle with her backpack she caught sight of Oz making his way along the corridor. As Oz approached she made her way over to him. 

"Oz!" She exclaimed. 

"That's me." Was his subdued reply. 

"We....Uh...." Willow floundered as she tried to broach the subject. 

"Need to talk?" Oz asked. "I know. I spent most of the weekend thinking about it." 

"And....What did you think?" Willow asked hesitantly. 

"Do you know what I want?" 

"E-Flat, Diminished ninth?" Willow suggested. 

"I was thinking on more of a non-musical level." Oz Said. 

"Oh." 

"What I want..." Oz started. "...Is to be happy. You make me happy, but mostly that involves you being happy too...." Oz knew he was going to have to make a dramatic exit soon, this bowing out speech was cutting him up more than he liked. "....And I can't stand for you to be apart from the person you're meant to be with. 

"You're..... Breaking up with me?" Willow's eyes widened as she digested the information. 

"I'm not Xander." Oz stated. "And he's who you're meant to be with. Everyone figured that out except him. But now he knows, you two should be together. I can't stand in the way of that." 

"I don't know what to say..." Willow's voice was little more than whisper. 

"Say that we can still be friends." Oz replied. "But don't say it yet. This still hurts, and I still need some space." Oz turned to walk away. 

"Oz?" Willow called, surprised at how cracked her own voice sounded "Will you be okay?" 

Oz turned back half way and nodded. "As long as you're happy." He replied. 

Willow stood in subdued silence as she watched Oz walk off down the corridor. After what seemed an eternity he rounded the corner and disappeared from view. Willow let out the breath she hadn't realised she had bee holding, and started making her way toward the library. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Maybe I shouldn't be out .... y'know, with people about..." Willow complained as Buffy half dragged her in the direction of the Bronze. "When you break things they make you pay for them." 

"Don't tell me you haven't got used to the new you yet." Buffy answered back. "You were on fire today! I could still be off my game, but I don't usually spend that much quality time with the floor when I'm training, or when I'm fighting for that matter." 

Willow cast a reluctant glance at Buffy. "But what about the part where there are people?" 

Buffy stopped walking. "You can't just hide away forever because of what's going on." 

"Can't I?" 

"No." Buffy replied indignantly. "You're stronger than that and we both know it. Things happen,... And you can't let them do that to you. Besides, we have to celebrate your impending slayerness. Giles said you should be ready for patrol by tomorrow night. This might be the only normal fun you get to have for a while. 

Inside The Bronze, Xander looked up from his table as the new arrivals walked in through the door. He knew it was her, he had known long before she walked in. Buffy was with her, he could see that now. As he caught Buffy's eye he set his drink down on the table, inwardly smiling to himself as he waited for the reaction. 

"Ladies....." He started as they strode over towards him. 

Xander saw the blow almost before Buffy launched it, but his better judgement convinced him not to stop it. It was a carefully weighted blow and Xander knew it should have had him sprawling on the floor, so he let it carry him backwards and knock him off the stool on which he was perching. 

"OW!... And why?" He said as he slowly got up off the floor. 

"That..." Buffy said as she stood over him. "Was for letting us think you were dead." 

Xander put on his best sheepish expression as he finished getting to his feet. "Oh... that." he responded meekly. 

Willow couldn't restrain herself any longer and lunged at Xander, wrapping her arms around him. 

"I missed you too Wills." he said, extricating himself from her embrace. 

"You could at least have told us you were okay." Willow admonished. "We were worried." 

"I was kinda cut off." Xander responded as he sat back down on his stool. "It's a crime y'know. You go for some quality soul searching and away time,.... And they don't even have a phone." 

"So you're okay then?" Willow asked. 

"Never better." Xander replied. "I'm a new man." 

"With even worse eating habits." Buffy commented, pointing at the plate that sat on the table next to Xander. 

"That...." Xander said, picking up his fork and eating a mouthfull. "Is Black pudding." Off Buffy and Willow's looks of confusion he explained. "It's British." 

"Is this the new you too?" Willow asked, picking up Xander's drink and taking a sip... Seconds later she spat out the half mouthfull and slammed the glass back down on the table in disgust. 

"Xander Harris!" She exclaimed. "There's.... drink in this drink!" 

Xander simply shrugged. 

"You of all people should know what that does to people." Willow shouted at him. 

Xander raised a hand to silence Willow. "After the last couple of days I think I need it." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Buffy had paled noticeably and had a look of pure horror on her face. 

"killing Angelus wasn't easy, I needed a break." Xander said casually. 

"No..." Buffy gasped. "You didn't..." 

"Well, I couldn't listen to you on your guilt trip for another second. I swear I'd have gone insane if I had to put up one more time with you moaning about how much you love him and how you can't kill him no matter how many innocent people he hurts." 

Buffy looked at Xander through tear streaked vision. "You are about this far from me knocking your teeth out through the back of your skull." She said suprisingly calmly. 

"This had to be done Buffy." Willow reminded her. "You know that the last thing Angel would have wanted was for us to let him go around killing and maiming. He would have wanted us to stop him." Willow drew in a deep breath. "Even if it meant killing him." 

"I suppose you're right." Buffy sighed. "I just didn't expect you to actually do it. I guess love must be a powerful motivator." 

"I mean wow!.... You slayed a vampire for me!" Smiling, Willow slid her hand across the table toward Xander's. 

"Well, after you, I just knew that the next person he would have had attacked was Cordy...." As Xander looked across at Willow straight into her eyes, he imagined he could see her heart shattering into a thousand tiny little pieces as the look of pure despair and horror started to form on her face. He inwardly smiled to himself as he continued. "If I let anything happen to her I ..... I just don't think I could live with myself." 

It was a moment before Willow managed a reaction. Stifling an already quiet whimper with her hand, she pushed away from the table and ran as fast as she could toward the exit, barging aside several people on her way out. 

"Can we still be friends?" Xander called sarcastically after her as she ran out. 

Buffy jumped up from her seat, staring at Xander, her eyes wells of pure rage. "You don't even deserve this piece of advice." She half said, half snarled. "But I'm going to put this down to the drink. Go home, sleep it off, and hope that you still have a friend in the morning." With that she turned and started after Willow. 

After a few moments more a figure emerged from the crowd. He sat down at Xander's table with a pint, the lights glinting of the peroxide bleached hair. 

"That was brilliant!" Spike laughed, slapping Xander on the back. "Better than bloody Coronation Street!" 

"I'm glad you liked it." Xander responded, taking another chunk out of the black pudding and suppressing his vampire face with some difficulty. 

"So, I'm curious. What's the next move?" Spike asked. 

"Fifty dollars says they go straight to the library." Xander dropped a fifty dollar bill onto the table. 

"Pah! I could have told you that." Spike said contemptfully, snatching the money off the table. "The question is what your next move is going to be." 

"My suprise." Xander said. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"So you believe there's some kind of outside influence that's causing this .... reprehensible behaviour?" Giles queried as he emerged, book laden from the stacks. Willow sat with red, bleary eyes and blank expression at the table. 

"There has to be something causing it." Buffy said as she took the pile of books from Giles' failing grasp. "This just .... wasn't Xander. More like when he was hyena boy or something." 

"Hmnn" Giles mused. "So, he's capricious, callous and generally nasty to those closest to him." 

"Any idea what it could be?" Buffy asked. 

"You know, I do believe I've seen it before." Giles answered. "At the start of the school year, when you came back." 

"They tried to raise The Master." It was only the second time Willow had spoken since entering the library. "We,.... Buffy stopped them." 

"And Buffy's behaviour was not unlike how you describe Xander's now." 

"Can you explain that in English please mister psychology." Buffy wryly commented. 

"Angelus is .... was a very powerful vampire." Giles explained. "Defeating him would have taken a significant toll on even you, let alone Xander. Before you jump to conclusions think back to your fight with The Master." 

"But Xander didn't have a mark on him." Willow pointed out. 

Giles took his glasses off and proceeded to rub the bridge of his nose. "This is perplexing." He muttered. 

"Oh! And he was drinking." Willow added. 

"And not just any drinks. We're talking the kind of smelly, nasty, high alcohol things that you drink." Buffy clarified. "And while we're there, when did you start Xander on yucky British food?" 

"I don't recall introducing Xander to the finer points of British cuisine, but do go on. I'm sure this will be ... enlightening." Giles said with a perplexed look. 

"Black pudding." Buffy started. "And why do they call it black pudding anyway? I can see with it being mostly black, but it looks more like a sausage than a pudding. Do you realise how much thought time I'm going to waste on that now?" 

"I'm not quite sure where Xander came across black pudding." Giles said, putting his glasses back on. "But I can say with some certainty that it wasn't me. I can't bring myself to eat the stuff." 

"So it does taste as horrible as it looks?" Buffy questioned. 

"No, not at all." Giles replied. "It's actually quite good. It's just that.... And you're probably going to call me a squeamish old man...." 

"You're a squeamish old man." Buffy interrupted. 

"Thank you." Giles said as he shook his head in exasperation. "Ever since I learned about the vampires and the demons I've never been able to bring myself to eat something the main constituent of which is blood." 

"Say that again." Buffy said with a slight edge to her voice. 

"Ever since..." Giles began. 

"Not that bit." Buffy interrupted. "Black pudding is blood?" 

"It's not quite that simple, but essentially I suppose so." Giles replied. "Why you don't think..." He said as he caught up to Buffy's thinking. 

"Actually I do." Buffy said. "But we need to find out.... Full research mode?" she said looking at Giles. 

"No." Willow muttered from where she sat. "Not Xander too." 

Buffy turned to look at Willow. "We're going to find out, and no matter what we'll find a way to get him back for you." She turned back to Giles. "We need Oz and... god help us even Cordelia. Do you think you can phone them?" 

Giles nodded. "I'll see what I can do." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Mind me asking why we're out here instead of in there killing them?" Spike said to Xander as they sat in Spike's car in the school car park. 

"Right now they're freaking out in there." Xander explained. "Y'know... Xander wouldn't do this, there must be something causing this, blah blah blah. And they'll have called for everyone, including..." Xander watched as the van pulled onto the car park. "Oz." He said on cue. 

"Ah, good." Spike smiled. "I was afraid we weren't going to see any killing tonight." 

The van pulled to a stop just to the side of the entrance to the school building and Oz got out, somewhat languidly and started towards the entrance. Oz stopped in his tracks and sniffed at the air as if to identify a strange smell. After a few moments he started off again, shaking his head to himself. 

"Looks like he might have rumbled you." Spike observed from in the car. 

"So I might be needing a fast getaway." Xander said. You mind not watching? We might want to keep the car ticking over." 

"S'pose so." Spike grumbled. "Now get in there and do me proud." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Inside the library Willow looked up from her books as she heard the faint noise. "Did you hear that?" She called across to Buffy. "Was that the door?" 

"Don't know." Buffy replied. I'll go and check on it. Stay here, I'll be back in no time." 

Buffy had been gone barely moments when Willow heard the shout that was unmistakably Oz. Giles emerged from the stacks just as Willow stood up to shout for him. 

"I heard that too, come on!" He pre-empted.


	4. Awakenings Chapter 4

Awakenings 4

Oz froze in place as he heard the main doors open behind him. "I thought you were out there." He said without turning around. 

"You know me." Xander said closing the door behind him as he spoke. "I crave to be where the action is." 

"True." Oz said, turning around. Xander was obscured by shadow, and Oz could only make out the vaguest of details. But something was very wrong, he could almost smell it. "But I'm wondering how much you've been changed by recent events." He said backing off. 

"You have no idea." Xander said, moving forward to close the distance. 

"Y'know, I think I might take a guess." Oz said, edging back further to keep the distance. 

As Xander advanced further he came out of the shadows, grinning as his vampiric features became visible. Were you right?" He asked mockingly as he quickened his pace further. 

"Yeah, pretty much..." Oz said quietly, turning to run. "BUFFY!" He shouted as he started running. 

With alarming speed Xander closed the gap, lifting Oz off his feet and throwing him to the side. Oz groaned as he slid down to the floor, a large indentation in the plaster attested to the force of his impact with the wall. He looked up defiantly as Xander stood over him. 

"Would you look at what you made me do..." Xander gestured to the wall above Oz. "And it did nothing for you, Buffy isn't going to save you." 

"I beg to differ." Buffy called from down the hall. 

Xander turned away from Oz and advanced down the hall towards Buffy. "Sure about that?" He called back. "Last I saw you weren't exactly at your best." 

"Come over here and find out how sure." Buffy responded. 

As Xander advanced toward Buffy Willow and Giles rounded the corner and took up flanking positions next to Buffy. 

"Oz!" Willow shouted, seeing him slumped on the floor. Her eyes widened as she took in the full enormity of the situation. "Xander!... no..." Her voice trailed off as she slumped to her knees. 

"I was going to leave him on your doorstep over the next week, but you've gone and ruined the suprise now." 

Giles produced a stake from one pocket of his tweed jacket and handed it to Buffy, he then pulled out a cross for himself. "You would do well to leave now." He said, his voice full of anger and sorrow even through his normally stoic demeanour. 

Xander looked over to Oz, then back at Giles and Buffy. " I'll finish this some other time my love." He called to Willow, then he turned and ran outside, the doors providing scant resistance to his strength. Buffy ran after him and was just in time to see the car pull away and out of the car park. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Spike looked across at Xander as he drove. "So I take it you were unsuccessful." He said, his voice laced with sarcasm. 

"The slayer happened." Xander sighed. "And friends too." 

"I thought that might happen." Spike said. "That was your learning experience. From now on it gets done my way." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Buffy traipsed back in through the door to find Giles helping Oz to his feet. 

"You okay?" She asked as she moved in to help support Oz. 

"I think I'll live." Oz answered. "It's Willow I'm worried about." 

"Where is she?" Buffy asked as she realised Willow wasn't anywhere to be seen. 

"I'm not entirely sure, but the library or the computer room would be my first guess." Giles said. 

"You're library bound right?" Buffy enquired. 

Giles nodded in response. 

"Okay then, I'll check the computer room and get back to you." She said, deftly detaching herself from Oz and Giles and starting after Willow as fast as she could. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Buffy arrived just in time to se Willow kick the door open. 

"Dammit!" Willow shouted. "Dammit!" 

"Willow..." Buffy started. 

"This wasn't meant to happen." Willow turned to face Buffy, revealing her tear streaked face as she looked through bleary eyes at her friend. "Do you know how much it hurt when I lost Jesse this same way?" 

Buffy nodded sagely. "I know it hurts." 

"But it was so right..." Willow cried, moving into the room. "Why did it have to happen this way?" 

"We'll find something." Buffy tried to reassure Willow. "There has to be something that can be done." 

Willow shook her head. "You know there's nothing we can do..." Without warning she exploded into movement. Screaming in frustration she planted her hands underneath the nearest computer desk, flipping it into the air as if the desk and everything on it weighed practically nothing. 

"It just isn't fair." She sobbed quietly as she sank down to the floor. 

"No, it isn't." Buffy said as she knelt down next to Willow, cautiously eyeing the smoking remains of the computer monitor where it had landed. "Now we should get back to the library, Giles and....." Buffy paused as she caught sight of something on the floor that shouldn't have been there. 

"What is it?" Willow asked, looking up at Buffy. 

"Will, you didn't keep any floppy disks in that desk, do you?" Buffy asked. 

"No. Why?" Willow responded. 

"What about that one?" Buffy said pointing to the yellow disk that lay on the floor. 

"I don't know. I'll take a look." Willow said, sniffling as she pulled herself to her feet. 

Willow retrieved the disk and went to the closest working computer as Buffy took a fire extinguisher from a holder on the wall and proceeded to deal with the smouldering computer monitor that lay amidst the remains of the desk. 

"So, what's on the disk then?" Buffy asked as she finished extinguishing the remains of the teacher's desk. 

Willow sat speechless, eyes wide in disbelief as she read the text scrolling across her monitor. 

"Uh, Willow?" Buffy looked across at Willow to make sure she was okay. 

"You might want to take a look at this." Willow managed after a few seconds. 

Buffy gingerly stepped over the clutter on the floor and made her way over to the computer that Willow was sitting at. 

"Ritual of restoration..." Willow said as Buffy moved round to look at the screen. "It's the original curse." 

"Miss Calendar must have been working on it before she was killed." Buffy commented. 

"Do you think that's why Angel killed her?" Willow suggested. 

Buffy considered that for a moment. "Probably." She replied. "We have to show this to Giles." 

Willow simply nodded in agreement. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Robert Sherman sighed as he fished in his pocket for the keys to what was laughingly called his apartment. Pausing to gingerly test the big purple bruise forming on the side of his ribs he pushed the door open. As soon as he entered the apartment he knew something was wrong, the flow of energy through the room was too different. Someone else was in there, and whoever it was made a fairly large magickal impact. 

"You can show yourself. I know you're there." Robert called into the gloom. 

A small man stepped out of the darkness, dressed in the most repugnant suit known to mankind. Complete with bowler hat. 

"You know you don't even have any drinks in here?" He commented. "How do you expect to entertain guests?" 

"I don't get any guests." Robert replied. "Which begs the question. "Who are you, and why are you here?" 

"The name's Whistler. And I'm here because things ain't goin' down the way they're supposed to." 

"With dress sense like that you'd have to be a Verrach demon." Robert commented. "I didn't think there were any of you left anymore." 

"Word on the street would say the same about your order." Whistler replied. 

"But I'm still here on my own merits." Robert pointed out. "I'm 

Guessing you've got servitude to higher beings to thank for your continued existence." 

"The kid's got smarts." Whistler said with mock surprise. "I do hands on work for the powers that be, help keep the balance. They let me stick around on this plane. Which brings me to why I'm here. Events are moving faster than foreseen and there was some concern over your preparedness." 

"I don't understand." Robert said. 

"Figures..." Whistler said before clearing his throat. "I know all about your prophecy, about how your order's going to blink out of existence. Very sad. And I know about the one. How the one will be the rebirth of the order, and how you're supposed to protect the one until your time." 

"That doesn't happen yet." Robert pointed out. "Soon yes, but I still have some time. And you know I have something to resolve in that time." 

"That's where you're wrong." Whistler said. "Events have been set in motion. The one has been jolted awake." 

"This was never prophesied." 

"They never tell you the whole truth." Whistler replied. "It starts going down tonight. Sunnydale high school library, in about an hour. You need to be there." 

"If I'm not?" Robert asked. 

"Just trust me on this." Whistler replied. "Now it's going to take you a good 45 minutes to get there so I suggest you go now. I'll be here when you get back, you'll probably have even more questions by then." 

"You're not coming?" 

Whistler shook his head. "Not my place." Whistler tossed a backpack to Robert. "Anti vampire hamper, you might need it." He explained. 

"So, I guess I should thank you for this." Robert said, turning and walking out into the night. 

Whistler waited until he heard the door click shut. "Not yet..." He said quietly to himself. "Not yet." 

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The Library was a hive of activity. Willow and Giles sat reading over various books and computer printouts, whilst Buffy and the recently arrived Cordelia searched through Giles' more "unconventional" office supplies. Oz sat painfully in the most heavily padded chair available. 

"One set of runic tablets." Buffy said, emerging from the office with a small wooden box. "Anything else we need?" 

"Just an Orb of Thessulah, Whatever that is." Willow replied. 

"It's the dodgy looking crystal ball on the desk." Oz piped in. 

"Oh, the paperweight." Buffy said. "I can get that." 

Giles tried his best to hide the pained expression on his face. A moment later Buffy emerged from the office bearing the orb. 

Cordelia came out shortly later with several candles and a bowl of something that looked remarkably like pot pourri. "One set of stinky herbs." She said setting them down on the table. 

"I think that's everything." Willow said. 

"Hmmm." Giles made a sound indicative of deep, pensive thought. 

"It is everything isn't it?" Willow asked worriedly. 

"Oh, yes." Giles said as he was startled out of his reverie. "I was just trying to ascertain just how I'm going to manage this ritual. I didn't want to worry you, but I don't believe I can lay claim to enough expertise to successfully perform this ritual." 

"I thought I was going to do the ritual." Willow complained. 

"You're in pain,.... emotionally." Giles managed. "It's not good for you to do magic while you're distracted like this. 

"This is a curse." Buffy pointed out. "Spell of vengeance, level head optional." 

"Even so, channelling such powerful magic may open a doorway that you aren't able to close. Are sure you want to do this?" 

Willow nodded. "We need to do this soon, before Xander has anything else to feel guilty about." 

"I take it we're ready to start?" Cordelia asked. 

"Almost." Willow replied. "I need five, maybe ten minutes to make sure of everything. Then we can start." 

"Good because...." Cordelia stopped mid sentence as the library doors swung open to admit the lone figure that marched in. 

Giles, along with everybody else looked up at the new arrival. 

"You know, you might want to think about relocating." Robert Sherman said. "I don't think you could be any closer to the hellmouth if you wanted to be." 

"No I don't believe we could." Giles answered curtly. "Now, who are you and why are you here?" 

Robert's eyes flicked across the room to Giles, then around the room in search of Buffy as soon as he caught the English accent. Certainty forming in his mind as he located her. 

"You're her watcher aren't you?" He asked. 

All eyes in the room instantly turned to Buffy. 

"He's good." She responded. "On our side." 

"That's all very well, but my questions still stand." Giles said. 

"Robert Sherman." Robert said. 

"And you fight vampires?" Giles asked. 

"He kills vampires." Buffy verified. 

"Alone? And you're human?" Giles made no attempt to hide his growing scepticism. 

"Yes. And as human as anyone in this room." Robert replied. 

"I'm sure you can understand the relative nature of that answer." Giles said, passing back and forth between his hands an ornate cross that he had picked up off the table. Without warning he tossed the cross almost carelessly in Robert's direction. Robert plucked the cross out of the air with no difficulty, smiling as he looked at the object in his hands. 

"For a moment I thought you weren't going to test that." Robert confessed. 

"Couldn't have that." Giles responded. "Of course you've yet to tell us why you're here." 

"The short version is that I'm here to protect you. There'll be time for the long version later. Robert answered. 

"Nice of you to worry..." Buffy said with mock innocence. "But I can take care of myself, really." 

"It's not you." Robert said to Buffy. "This close to the hellmouth I can't tell which of you is the one. But it isn't you." 

"Oh." Buffy said in a subdued voice. 

"Don't let me stop you doing your ritual though." Robert continued. 

"Wouldn't dream of it." Giles said with dry sarcasm. "In fact you can help. You wouldn't happen by any chance to know Latin would you?" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Xander sat in the gloom, poring over the ancient texts on the table. He looked up as the door opened to admit Spike. 

"Well?" Spike asked without waiting for a greeting. 

"That bloody slayer!" Xander cursed. "That stupid little dog boy would be dead now, and Willow would be crying her eyes out into my arms right now if not for her." 

Spike sighed. "What about my armageddon?" He said deliberately slowly. 

"I have about half the ritual down." Xander replied. "The other half will take longer though. Could be a long time. 

"Then we'll have to see if we can't find someone with actual brains." Spike said. "Anyway Dru brought some food back. And if I feed you, whatever's in your head besides brains might work a little harder." 

Spike led Xander up the stairs to the main hall. Inside Dru reclined on the table whilst a quite terrified young man sat tied to one of the chairs, blood dribbling from a bite-hole on the side of his neck. 

"Dru love, you weren't supposed to start without us." Spike Admonished. 

"I got peckish." She replied, hopping off the table and running over to embrace Spike. 

"Let's chow down then." Xander said, starting towards the boy. 

"Ahem. Us first, then you mate." Spike interrupted Xander before he had taken two steps. 

Xander was just about to reply when the visions hit him. 

Time and space swirled into one, and suddenly he was in the library. Willow was there, and Buffy, Giles and Cordelia. Oz was there too, still suffering from the injury inflicted upon him. Someone he didn't know was there also, and Xander could see a great power emanating from him like light from a flame. He looked back at Willow and saw the same power, albeit in lesser magnitude. Suddenly his attention was drawn to the orb on the table, it glowed with a strange yellow light as Willow recited ancient, unintelligible words over it. As the orb pulsed he felt an invisible force pulling him towards it. He felt himself entering the orb, and everything turned to black. 

He opened his eyes to see Spike and Dru looking down at him as he lay on the floor. 

"Whoa!" He gasped. 

"Good trip?" Spike asked sarcastically. 

"No." Xander replied, hauling himself into a sitting position. "They're doin' something at the library." 

"They're always up to something dodgy, DETAILS!" Spike shouted down at him. 

"Some kind of weird blue orb, candles, some language I don't know." Xander said as he got unsteadily to his feet. 

Spike and Dru exchanged glances. 

"They can't take him from us." Dru said shaking her head. "Not like they did our Angel." 

"Then we'd better stop them." Spike said in a deadpan tone. "They're trying to give you your soul back. Are you gonna stand for that.?" He said to Xander. 

"No way." Xander said adamantly. 

"Right then." Spike replied. "let's get the boys together. We're going to have a scrap." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Willow sat at the table, the orb before her. To one side Robert held a commuter printout, and to the other Giles filled the air with incense. Buffy, Oz and Cordelia stood to the side in quiet awe. The whole room was filled with a silence that was oddly comforting. 

"Are you ready?" Giles asked quietly. 

Willow simply nodded her head. 

"Quod perditum est invenietur." Robert read from the paper. 

"You're not dead. You're not of the living. Spirits of the interegnim I call." Willow recited. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Spike and Xander leapt from the back of the transit van even before it came to a halt. Five other vampires followed behind as Spike and Xander together barged the main doors open in one fluid motion. As soon as the van stopped another two got out of the front and started making their way around to the entrance to the stacks. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Giles reached over and calmly lit the last candle as Willow spoke the words. 

"Let him know the pain of humanity gods. Reach your wizened hands to me. Give me the soul." As she spoke the orb took on a radiant glow and started humming softly. 

"Gods bind him. Cast his heart from the evil realm......." 

Willow was interrupted by Spike as he kicked the library doors open. 

"Oh dear, I'm interrupting something aren't I." He said menacingly. 

In a heartbeat all eyes in the room were on Spike. Buffy and Giles had already started reaching for their weapons. 

"You are so dead." Buffy said calmly, glaring at Spike. 

"I beg to differ." Xander said, stepping in through the doors. Several other vampires could be seen behind him. 

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this isn't good." Oz said, scanning the library for a useable weapon within reach. By now Willow and Robert had assumed fighting stances and even Cordelia had picked up the nearest heavy book she could find. 

"Kid's got a point" Spike noted sarcastically. 

"Y'know let's not have all the small talk." Buffy sighed. "It's late and I want to kill you so I can go home. Can we please start with the fighting already." 

"Fine by me." Spike shrugged. As if on cue, two vampires charged out of the stacks. The vampires waiting outside the doors charged in on the same signal. 

"Now this is the real fun." Spike said to Xander as they strode confidently onto the fray. 

Buffy Deftly sidestepped the first vampire, delivering with alarming speed a kick that connected squarely with the groin of her second assailant. As the vampire doubled over in agony Buffy stepped past it and thrust her stake through it's back straight to the heart. Coming face to face with Spike Buffy ducked under his blow before stepping in and jabbing upwards to connect with his chin. Spike staggered back a couple of paces but surprisingly didn't go down. Raising his guard he shook his head to regain his composure. 

"Come on! You're not even trying!" He shouted as Buffy launched her next wave of attacks. 

Giles stepped backwards, holding his cross out towards the first vampire to target him. The vampire stopped in it's tracks and stood snarling for a moment before the book in Cordelia's hands connected with the back of it's head with frightening force. Giles smiled as the vampire dropped to the ground like a sack of beans. That smile however faded from his face when he caught sight of the book Cordelia had used. He was just about to stake the vampire when another tackled him, knocking him off his feet. 

Robert gracefully evaded the blow of the oncoming vampire. Throwing it by it's outstretched arm he sent it careening through the air with an almost balletic grace. Something was different than it should be though. He had precious little time to devote to thought however as the next two vampires rushed at him. 

Xander snarled as he batted Oz out of the way like a rag doll, and advanced on Willow. Willow pulled herself into the best defensive posture she could muster, shaking as she did so. 

"Relax. This won't hurt.... Much." He called to her. 

Xander recoiled under the force of Willow's kick, barely retaining his footing as it connected solidly with his chest. 

"Or maybe it will." He said, surprise registering in his voice "That's good too." He shrugged as he assumed a combat stance of his own. 

As the fight evolved around them Buffy and Spike traded blows, neither one with the luxury of devoting attention elsewhere than on their opponent. Buffy swung Spike round, slamming him into the reception counter. Spike responded in kind by flinging Buffy over the top of it. 

Giles pressed the cross against the vampire with all the strength he had as it bore down on him. White smoke drifted up in tendrils from the point of contact, and the sickly smell of burning flesh filled his nose. Fumbling in his pocket with his left hand, Giles retrieved the small phial of holy water. Holding it in his hand he shattered it against the vampire's head, Ignoring the shards of glass cutting into his hand as the vampire scrambled away hissing frantically. 

Cordelia ran over to where Oz lay. Thankfully between the others all of the vampires seemed to be occupied. Oz groggily started to pick himself up, groaning as he did so. 

Xander moved purposefully toward Willow. Twisting to the side so that Willow's attack landed with only a portion of the force it should have. He raised his arm to block another attack, and this time delivered a backhanded blow to her face as response. Willow fell to one side, and looked up, wells of pure fury in her eyes. Xander smiled, baring fangs. However she'd got as strong as she had, she still had to learn the difference between fighting someone and standing up to them. 

Robert knew another vampire had joined his fight even before it entered his vision. He spun around, ducking as the vampire's punch sailed over his left shoulder. A crackling, blue bow wave of energy formed itself around his hand as he punched straight for the heart. Flesh and bone parted before the blow and the vampire stopped in it's tracks, slack jawed as it felt the disintegration begin. Robert jerked his arm free, tearing away chunks of rapidly disintegrating vampire, and launched himself from the ground to escape the footsweep of another vampire. Twisting around in the air he retaliated with a kick to the head, sending the vampire sprawling onto it's back. Almost subconsciously he arched his back to evade yet another attack, backhanding the vampire across the face as he landed. He was fighting at the best he had ever done, but deep down at the back of his mind he knew it couldn't last. Something had to give. 

Spike vaulted over the reception counter in pursuit of Buffy, fully shifted into game face now. From her crouching position Buffy jinked to one side, evading the downward blow. Launching herself upwards she struck out first with her knee, connecting solidly to his face. Then as he staggered back, she used leverage to flip him backwards over the counter. 

As Giles got to his knees, he saw the Vampire Cordelia had incapacitated was starting to come around. Giles reached over and picked up the stake he had dropped with half an eye on his previous assailant as it fled through the doors, clutching it's face. Grimacing with pain, he grasped the stake in both hands, and lunged forward, plunging it into the heart of the prone vampire. Then with grim resolve on his face he looked up to survey the rest of the fight. 

The three vampires circled around Robert, looking for an weakness they could exploit. His recent demonstration left them unwilling to close, despite his apparent lack of weapons. Robert cautiously surveyed the situation, devoting all of his attention to his three assailants, knowing that even as he was now, a co-ordinated assault would overwhelm him. 

Xander looked down at Willow as he prepared to move in for the kill. Mentally defeated already, she didn't get up from the floor. Out of the corner of his eye Xander caught sight of the orb sitting on the table, humming quietly. 

"No! That's....." Willow started as she tracked his attention back to the orb. 

"My soul?" Xander cut Willow off mid sentence. "Somehow I thought it would be larger." 

Willow looked on, horrified as Xander scooped the orb off the table and held it up in front of him. 

The whole room seemed to dim for Xander as he looked into the orb. As if the only source of illumination in the world was a golden yellow light that emanated from the heart of the orb. The light seemed as if it was reflected in his eyes. And to move, even to move his attention elsewhere seemed an impossible task. The light in the orb seemed to glow brighter and brighter. 

Then Xander crushed the orb in his hand. 

As the shards of crystal spiralled away and down to the ground Xander wondered for the barest of moments why the light hadn't subsided with the destruction of the orb. All thoughts were lost to him as the light raged at and assaulted him, driving him almost instantly into the surrender of unconsciousness. All fading to black as he collapsed to the ground. 

This part is actually the end of this story. I know I warned you about the cliffhanger, but I thought I should put another note here. Of course the story is far from over, and a story to continue where this one left off is already in the works. I should be in a position to start posting the other story shortly. But in the meantime, feedback will help, as it will help to shape what is yet to come.

I look forward to hearing from you.


	5. Awakenings II, Chapter 1

Awakenings II part 1

What follows was going to be a seperate story - a sequel. But after some careful consideration. (based on the fact that it would be incomprehensible and confusing to anyone who hadn't read Awakenings) I decided to add it to the end of that instead.

Now comes the dissapointing bit: Despite the speed at which I've put up the 5 parts that are here, believe me when I say that I don't write that fast. I'll have the next parts up as soon as I can, but now that this has caught up to me there might be a little wait for them. I just wanted to warn in advance in case it took a while.

I haven't given up on this... It's just taking me a while to write it.

Anyway... Have fun... Enjoy.... Give feedback...

Awakenings II - The dawn

Giles studied the situation as he unsteadily got to his feet. The library was a mess. Books littered the floor from where one of the bookcases had been toppled during the fight. And more than one chair was shattered, strewn across the room in it's component parts. He scanned around the room to see that Oz, Willow, and Robert were similarly raising themselves off the floor.

With a sigh Buffy marched back in through the main doors. "Well I got one of them." She said. "But Spike and the other two got away with Xander in tow."

Cordelia was the first to speak up. "I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say... What the hell happened?"

"Well at a guess," Giles responded. "Spike and Xander just gatecrashed the ritual."

"Well... Duh!" Cordelia said. "What about the part where Xander collapsed on the floor and they all dragged him outta there?"

"Unfortunately I have to confess not being able to observe the events immediately preceding that." Giles responded. "They might provide some clue as to what caused that turn of events."

"He crushed the orb." Willow stated.

"Pardon?" Giles asked. Such a blunt statement being far too stark for his mind to cope with at the moment without prior warning.

"He crushed the orb." Willow restated. "He picked it up, and he crushed it in his hand."

"Oh." Was Giles' only response.

"That orb had his soul in, right?" Buffy asked.

"I think," Willow replied. "I felt something go into the orb."

"So what happened to the soul?" Buffy continued her line of questioning.

"That I don't know." Giles said, sweeping debris off the table to set a book down. "If it wasn't destroyed with the orb, then it has to have gone somewhere."

"Why wouldn't it have been?" Buffy likewise swept a portion of the table clear, and proceeded to perch on the edge.

"You can't just destroy a soul." Robert took a step forward from the edge of the room as he spoke. "It doesn't work like that."

"You..." Buffy said, her voice full of menace. She strode up to him, lifting him up by his jacket, and pushing him against the wall. "You knew about this, didn't you? You knew that something was going to happen." She shouted at him, holding him with his feet fully six inches off the ground.

"Why do you think I was here?" Robert replied. "Would you be alive now if not for me?"

"But you knew, and you said nothing about it!" Buffy shouted back. "We had no idea what was going to happen, and you did!"

"Buffy." Giles said quietly, giving her pause with a single word.

"We should hear him out." Willow added.

Seething with frustration, Buffy set him down on the ground, and walked back over to sit on the edge of the table.

Robert paused to tidy his clothing before taking a step forward. "I didn't know what was going to happen. I don't know who those people were, or why they were here. And I still have only the most vague idea of what you were trying to do here." He said calmly. "I came here because my duty demanded it. That's a concept you should understand."

"The blonde one with the English accent was Spike, also known as William The Bloody. The one they carried out of here is called Xander. He was a good friend, and helped me fight until he was turned a couple of days ago." Buffy spoke up. "We were attempting the ritual of restoration to return his soul to him."

"That ritual has been lost for over ninety years." Robert observed, trying to absorb all of the information in front of him.

"We found it again." Buffy said, the simplicity of her words contradicting the huge implication of the statement.

"So, let us pretend that we know you, and we trust you." Giles said curtly. "What are you going to be doing now, and where can we find you, should we need to?"

"Now I need to return for more information. I'll be more certain on what to do once I figure out which of you is the one. And if you need to find me, I should be here." He said, placing a piece of paper down on the table.

"So, what now?" Willow spoke up. "More books? Find out what happened?"

"Actually..." Giles responded. "I think we have just enough time to get this place looking like a library before people start arriving."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xander looked around. The blackness surrounded him. Plumbing his memories, he surveyed his surroundings for any variations, any differences, anything. Willow had been hurt, that's why he'd gone after Angelus. That was foolish, Angelus would have killed him if not for Spike. It hadn't made any difference, Spike had sucked him dry anyway. But Spike had made him drink too. I always thought I wouldn't drink, If this happened I'd rather die first. He thought to himself. You never really realise how hard that is until it's happening to you. . Nothing after that was clear, muddled and vague memories, blurred and distorted. Slowly returning to clarity.

When he turned from his thoughts back to his surroundings he noticed a figure facing him in the nothingness. The figure was his exact double, height, build, clothes, Exactly the same. Apart from the face, that is. It took only a glance to see that this was him as a vampire, and a glance was far more than he wanted to see.

"This is my home now, I live here." The thing spoke with exactly the same tones and inflections that he would have used had he said that. Save for the tangible aggression and menace in the voice it was exactly the same as his.

"I don't think so." Xander made as defiant stand against the demon as he could. He still had very little idea what was going on.

The demon chuckled as to their side, the inky blackness began to form into an image.

"I do." It said with an evil smile on it's face

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The early morning mist hung low to the ground, not yet dissipated by the sun that was just cresting the horizon. The gentle breeze in the air stirred the mist into small spiral patterns, raising it on occasion to waist height.

Although the museum was not yet open, pre-opening activity could be seen inside. Janitors and security guards going about their business whilst last minute adjustments and improvements were being made to some of the exhibits and dioramas contained within.

Now was the time of least resistance. Not that the security guards with their guns would provide much, but there was no need for the loss of life that increased resistance entailed. The figure moved forward. Indistinguishable at first from the mist from which it emerged. Even as the figure cleared the mist it gained no distinguishing features. In the shape of a man it strode forward, the fledgling sunlight exposing the pale blue hue bordering on grey that was the only distinct detail about it.

Pausing at the foot of the steps that lead up to the main doors, the thing observed the building. Attention focused on the second floor the thing seemed to tense itself, then with an explosive burst of movement it catapulted itself up into the air to land on the ledge of a second floor window. Again the thing gave pause. This time it seemed to dissolve into nothingness, only to coalesce on the inside of the window.

Once on the inside, the thing strode purposefully over to a particular exhibit. The silver dagger, handle encrusted with various precious and semi precious gems sat atop a velvet pillow inside the glass case. The side of the case bore a lengthy and inaccurate description of the blade's origins and uses.

In one swift movement the glass was shattered. The wailing of alarms and the flashing lights shattering the calm in turn. An ethereal hand reached down to pluck the dagger from it's perch just as a pair of security guards came running up the stairs from the floor below. The guns shouted out their warcry as they hurled metal death towards the intruder, but it strode toward the guards, unimpeded by the myriad impacts of the bullets hitting it. One swift blow all but tore one guard's head from his shoulders as the dagger tasted blood. The second guard started to back away, and a well placed kick sent him tumbling backwards down the stairs he had just ascended.

The figure turned and made towards the window. kicking it open, it then somersaulted down to street level as yet more alarms joined in the cacophony inside the museum. Striding away into the rapidly disappearing mist with the dagger in hand, the figure all but vanished.

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Xander groaned as he slowly returned to consciousness. Opening his eyes he saw the familiar faces of Spike and Drusillia staring down at him.

"He's a bloody liability, that's what he is." Spike said to Dru. "I'm starting to regret ever siring him in the first place."

"Don't spank him just yet." Drusillia replied. "He has a destiny. He'll make us proud, just wait."

"Did I miss anything?" Xander murmured as he came to.

"well as far as I can tell you got your ass kicked by a bloody weakling." Spike answered. "But I was to busy fighting someone who actually knows how to fight to give you the exact details. Maybe you could tell us how you managed to screw up that badly."

"She was strong." Xander said as he raised himself up into a sitting position.

"How strong?" Spike snarled. "Strong like a slayer?"

"Strangely enough I've never fought a slayer, so I couldn't tell you." Xander answered. "But I beat her anyway."

"Then why the bloody hell did you flake out in the middle of the fight?"

"The orb." Xander replied. "I smashed it. Then .... I don't know. That must have been what did it."

Spike paused in thought for a moment before extending a hand down to Xander.

"Figures... I think." He said. "Well, so long as you're still soulless and fancy free I suppose it wasn't a total failure."

Xander paused in thought for a moment. He could feel the soul within himself, deep down in the core of his being. If Spike discovered it there was no way to tell what would happen. The ritual couldn't have worked properly though, because although the soul was there, it had no purchase on his thoughts, no control of his actions. It didn't matter.

"Yeah. We'll have to pay them back for that though, and soon." He said.

"Don't worry, we will." Spike replied. "You just get my Armageddon ready to go. Let me worry about the slayer."

"We're going to have a party. They'll all be invited." Dru crooned in her usual melodic tones as she danced around the pair of them, seemingly floating on a carpet of air.

"They'll come to us?" Spike asked, scooping Dru into his arms and dancing around the room with her.

"And they'll bring a friend." Dru sang as Spike twirled her around and around.

"Perfect!" Spike smiled as he threw Dru down onto the bed in the corner of the room. "We're going to have some alone time now, would you mind being somewhere else." He said over his shoulder to Xander.

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"Youth, the stench of optimism. Doesn't it just disgust you?" Snyder spat the words out as if even speaking of it would in some way contaminate him.

"Well actually I...." Giles started to respond before Snyder's next tirade cut him off.

"Disgusting self centred slavering bags of hormones, with nothing better to do than go around spreading their filth and their germs and causing exactly this kind of disruption." He gestured around at the library, which was still in a terrible state of disarray.

"I'm sure those responsible will be apprehended, and brought to justice." Giles responded, concealing the deception from his voice with a practised ease.

"That Buffy Summers had something to do with this, mark my words." Snyder sniffed at the air as if trying to identify a particular scent. "I can just smell it."

"With respect I hardly think...."

"And when I find out exactly how this is all her fault." Snyder continued. "I'll kick her out of this school so hard she won't land until she's finished college."

Snyder was just about to continue his rant when the mobile phone on his belt started ringing in an ardent attempt to garner his attention. Plucking the device from it's perch, he pressed the receive button and held the phone up to his ear.

"Snyder." He said pre-emptively.

"The mayor's on line 1." The brusque voice could be identified as his secretary even through the distortion of the phone.

"I'll take it in my office." Snyder replied before hanging up the phone. Without so much as a word, or even a glance to Giles he started off in the direction of his office.

"What did the Fuhrer want?" Willow emerged only when Snyder had made a good distance down the hallway.

Giles concealed a smirk at that remark. "He's just up to his usual." Giles said. "So, how did your morning classes go?"

"Well, after I fell asleep in Biology I'm not so tired now..." Willow said, walking with Giles into the library.

Giles smiled. "Today has been a bit exhausting so far. But what I meant was how are you coping?"

"I'm okay.. I think." Willow replied. "I mean.. I'm not feeling good right about now, but I think I'll live."

"I think I have some good news..." Giles said, sitting down and beckoning for Willow to do likewise. "...About the ritual."

Willow perked up instantly. "It worked?"

"It may have done." Giles said, leafing through a book on the table. "I've spent most of the morning reading up about the ritual. And it seems to be that the ritual occurs in three distinct parts. The first of these calls the soul to the orb, the second empowers it and enables it to take control of the body it is sent to, and the third part sends it out to the body in question."

"Uh-huh." Willow said. "So how far did we get?"

"As far as I can tell we had just completed the first part of the ritual." Giles responded. "But here's where it gets interesting.... In the past, before the secrets of the ritual were lost there are accounts of castings that went awry. A common cause was when a third party interfered with the orb during the casting process."

"What happened then?"

"It seems that, as good a vessel for the soul as the orb is... It in no way compares to flesh and bone. In short, physical contact with the orb once the soul has been summoned to it will transfer the soul to the individual who touched the orb."

"Xander does have his soul back..." The hope on Willow's face was as plain as the light of day.

"Yes. However without the rest of the ritual, the soul has to fight for control. In past occurrences it created instant, incurable Multiple Personality Disorders. There is however no record of the ritual going awry with the specific events we experienced. All I can say for sure is that the soul is in the body. Whether or not it can exert any degree of control remains to be seen."

"Oh." Willow quietly said. The hope that had built up draining away, leaving her face much the same as it had been before. "I was talking with Buffy, she said something about leaving an amulet with you."

"Yes..." Giles said. "...She did. I've as of yet been unable to find it's origins though. She wouldn't tell me where she found it. Did she happen to tell you?"

"No." Willow replied. "I don't think she was even going to tell me about it at all, it just kinda slipped out when we were talking."

"A pity..." Giles looked pensive. "If I had some idea of where to start looking I might stand a better chance of discerning what it's purpose is." Giles paused for a moment. "I know you probably don't want to hear this from me, but it doesn't do for you to be sitting around here at lunchtime, you really should eat something."

"I don't feel up to facing the canteen at the moment."

"Well I can't go without food even if you can. I was going to bring myself some back from the canteen, I can get some for you as well if you'd like."

"And I can help with the research while I'm here."

"It's a deal then." Giles smiled. "I'll be back in ten minutes, give or take."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert squinted as he looked at the sun, just now rising into full view above the neighbouring buildings. Leaning against the door, he pushed it open with his weight, and descended into his abode. Scanning visually across the room for Whistler he soon found him crouched in front of the open refrigerator.

"Well?... Do you still feel like thanking me?" Whistler asked, carrying a selection of food over to a worksurface where he was assembling an even bigger monstrosity than the one he was wearing.

"I'm not sure on that one yet." Robert replied. "You knew exactly what was going to happen didn't you?"

Whistler shrugged.

"Would it have killed you to have told me?" Robert continued.

"Possibly." Whistler said. "But if you're gonna carry on like this can we have some Tv so I'll be at least half interested."

"Whatever." Robert sighed. "But you'll be lucky if I can get any sort of a signal on that thing." He said, flicking the Tv on.

The picture sprang to life, clear with perfect sound and without the slightest hint of distortion. Robert looked back and forth between the Tv and whistler with an incredulous expression on his face until the programme caught his attention.

"This morning at approximately 6am the Sunnydale natural history museum was the Scene of theft and Brutal assault." The disembodied female voice spoke as the camera panned across the front of the museum, then upwards to reveal the broken window on the 2nd floor.

"That's fast reporting." Robert commented. "It's hardly eight thirty."

"Yeah." Whistler spoke between mouthfuls of his monstrosity. "For a town where this happens all the time they never cease to be able to make a big deal over it."

Robert turned his attention back to the screen where a picture of the stolen artefact was being displayed. A protracted and hardly accurate description of the item accompanied as an audible narrative.

"That's....." Robert started.

"It certainly is." Whistler answered almost before the question was begun.

"It was him wasn't it?" Robert turned back to Whistler as he spoke.

"Yep, that was his doing." Whistler confirmed.

"He can't be thinking of doing what I think he is with that...." Robert said, keeping half an eye on both Whistler and the Tv.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Whistler answered nonchalantly. "I thought you were expecting him to make a move."

"Not that move." Robert responded. "Does he even think he can pull it off?"

"Do I look like a psychic?" Whistler asked Rhetorically.

"Well you dress like one." Robert answered.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken time, but Xander had finally made sense of the images that seemed to be passing before him. His vampire counterpart seemed to float in the nothingness absorbed completely with the images, seemingly oblivious to him. This place, evidently was some part of his mind, and those images, clearly were what he was seeing with his eyes. With a little concentration Xander could focus on them and perceive the outside world through the senses of his body, although the lack of control was frustrating enough no make him not want to. He'd been like this before, when he was possessed by the hyena spirit, and his resolve to regain control grew with every passing moment. The newly returned memories of what he'd done during the time between his turning and the ritual merely strengthened this resolve. He'd been spending the last half hour steeling himself for his first attempt at control

"Shouldn't be too hard." He said to himself as if for reassurance. "It's your mind... You can do whatever you want here." Bending his mind to the task he focused on the outside, and willed his material body to take the action he wanted. Almost immediately he knew he had his counterpart's attention. It's thoughts seemed to intrude into his own as he felt more than heard his counterpart's response.

"Cease!.... Or..." Was the counterpart's message before Xander cut it off with his own.

"Or what?" Xander smiled inwardly as things started to become clearer to him. "You'll destroy me?.... Force me out?..... If you could have done that I'd be gone already. You can't do a thing to me, and we both know it."

"True...." There was a fair bit of surprise and a small amount of admiration detectable as the thing responded. "But neither can you do anything to me. I am the stronger of us... and you will not prevail"

"And I'm not gonna stop trying either!" The tenacity of Xander's response surprised even himself. "I'll do whatever it takes too."

"It'll take more than you've got." If it had been sound the thing would have been chuckling. "Do you need a display of my power?"

"Bring it on." Xander responded, resolute.

When the pain hit him though, he wished he hadn't. Wave after wave of agony that forced him to relinquish his attempt at control. Cast back into the void of his mind, he managed to regain enough composure that he was able to reduce the pain to a dull ache.

"guess you win this round." He muttered as vision blurred by pain began to clear. It was almost the same as it had been a few moments ago.

Except now he knew he could fight the thing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buffy and Willow walked down the corridor to the library. Talking, as people are wont to do. To the casual observer they would appear no different from the average pair of teenage girls, having an impassioned conversation about whatever it was that was occupying them at the time. Of course, the casual observer wouldn't listen too closely to the conversation....

"So you really think Angel is alive?" Willow asked.

"Totally!" Buffy responded. "All that we have saying he's dead is Xander's word. And Xander was out to cause us major hurt any way he could. I think he faked it."

"I don't know.." Willow said quietly. "I just have a feeling about this, I think he actually did do it."

"It's easy enough to find out for definite." Buffy said as she and Willow entered the library. "We get another one of those orb things, and we do the ritual for Angel. We can find out that way can't we?"

"Unfortunately Orbs of Thessulah are exceedingly rare and rather expensive." Giles looked up from the table at the new arrivals as he spoke. "Although I'm sure there are other spells that will tell you what you need to know with far less expense and effort."

"Anyway mister knowledge, do we know anything about that Amulet I gave you?"

"Well, considering you told me nothing about the circumstances in which you found it I find my progress to be most fortuitous." Giles responded in a sarcastic tone.

"In English... You did find out about it right?" Buffy fought sarcasm with sarcasm.

"Yes." Was Giles' reply. "But as your Watcher I refuse to divulge the information until I know to what ends it will be used. How did you encounter that amulet?"

"Fine." Buffy sighed. "I got it off Robert. He dropped it, I don't think he's missing it yet. Now will you please tell me about it?"

"The amulet...." Giles began. "....Is a simple Adept's amulet. It signifies a level of proficiency in certain magickal arts, the amulet itself has little intrinsic value. You could think of it as a magickal earthing rod in that it affords a small degree of protection to the wearer, but apart from that it's just a symbol."

"Please tell me there's more than that." Buffy said.

"There is." Giles replied. "But you may not want to hear it."

"Well that's done it." Buffy said. "Do you realise that I *Have* to hear it now, no matter what it is?"

"Very well..." Giles continued. "...I can say with some certainty that the amulet bears the symbol of the Order Magus Phoenica."

"Phoenix mages?" Willow spoke up.

"Yes." Giles nodded. "Now, the Order have a history with the council going back several hundred years so far as I can tell. And the Order itself is almost as old as the council. The Order used to be allied with the Watchers Council up until not much over a hundred years ago. Some difference of opinion... I find it rather amusing that the specific incident isn't documented anywhere I can find. The two had always had their differences, but nothing that prevented them from working together. Following said incident the Council and the Order went to war.... The Order lost, they had individual power, but the Council had superior numbers and connections. Nothing's been heard of them for the last 20 or 30 years. Official word from the council is that the Order no longer exists."

"You killed them all." Willow put Giles' words into the most compact form.

"Or so we thought." Giles corrected. "If Robert is a member of this Order then he is extremely dangerous." Giles reached for a particular book, opened it and started reading from it. "In 1947, the Council's main American book depository in New York was raided by A member of the Order. He was identified as Zachary Morris, the then defacto leader of the Order."

"So he stole a bunch of books," Buffy said. "Notice me not...... No, wait, that is a bad thing isn't it?"

"Yes it is." Giles smiled at Buffy's remark as he read on. "He was confronted by the current Slayer. She barely escaped with her life, and the depository was burnt to the ground. It was never discerned which books were taken. Presumably he got away with whatever it was he wanted."

"This Order Magus Phoenica..." Willow started. "...They're all mages, yes?"

"Yes." Giles' tone had just a hint of curiosity about it.

"Well, what type of magick do they Specialise in?" Willow asked. "I mean... There's lots of different types. Divination, Witchcraft, Chaos magick......" Willow stopped when she caught sight of Giles' expression.

"I do hope you haven't been delving into such matters lightly." Giles said. "These magicks are very dangerous things."

"No..." Willow replied indignantly. "I've just been studying the black arts for fun...." A small pause followed as she read the expression now on Giles' face. "...Or education."

"The order utilise a kind of magic somewhat different than what you'll have read about." Giles continued with a slightly worried look on his face. "Most magick as you know it is static. It is requiring of somewhat lengthy rituals, specific ingredients or incantations. The magick practised by the order contravenes almost all of this, Magickal effects are created by thought, sometimes gesture, and with far greater speed than is possible by more conventional methods."

"Effects?" Buffy asked.

"You may have wondered where he gets his fighting ability from." Giles responded. "As near as I can tell it comes from an augmentation spell of some kind. Also, telekinesis and thermal kinetics are effects that have been documented."

"Sounds kinda dangerous." Buffy observed with a hint of sarcasm. "Y'know, it makes you wonder why there wasn't more of them."

"Quite simply, very few have the level of magickal attunement necessary to achieve said effects." Giles said.

"So now we know what he is..." Buffy said. "...Any ideas on why he's here?"

"I was at a loss until early this afternoon." Giles replied. "The news however, contained a rather interesting article about a recent theft at the Sunnydale natural history museum."

"Surely you don't mean the news on the Tv..." Buffy said with mock horror. "Giles, tell me it isn't so!"

Giles turned a deaf ear to Buffy's comment as he continued. "The article stolen, as near as I can tell was this:" Giles pointed to a picture on a page of one of the open books.

"The hand of Tyrael..." Buffy said, reading from the page. "Tell me, is there a single one of these artefacts that doesn't have such a lame name?"

"What does it do?" Willow stared in wonderment at the picture of the dagger.

"Glad you asked..." Giles said in response to Willow. "Legends tell that 'the hand' is a powerful natural conduit for magickal energy. As well as serving as a reservoir of power, it has it's uses in the casting of certain rituals that require a large throughput of energy."

"Okay, so it's your basic copper conductor with a Duracell in the middle." Buffy said. "We just pay Robert a visit and make him give it back."

"First off..." Giles raised an eyebrow as he responded. "...It's much more than your predictably concise analysis would indicate. Second... I'm not sure that Robert did actually take it. Entrance and exit were by a second floor window, which I don't believe he could have managed. Also the theft took place at 6am, give or take."

"To make it all the way over there in time he would have to be moving at car speed." Willow observed.

"Mean speed required would be about 60 miles per hour: Car speed and then some considering the intervening roads." Giles clarified. "Still, I do think the theft was something to do with him. You two should pay him a visit. If he knows anything, it's important that we find out what."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You really think Willie knows where to find him?" Willow eyed Buffy suspiciously as they walked into the bar, empty save for Willie himself at this time of day.

"If he knows, he'll tell us." Buffy said knowingly. "Anyway Wills... That amulet, why do you insist on wearing it?"

"I don't know really, it just seems right." Willow responded. "Plus, Giles said it was for some kind of protection. I reckon I could use all the protection I can get."

"If it helps..." Buffy muttered, striding up to the bar.

"Welcome ladies!" Willie proclaimed as they approached. "I'm afraid the bar's closed at the moment. But if there's anything else I can do for either of....." Willie stopped his speech as soon as he recognised Buffy. "....Oh, it's you." He finished, all of the enthusiasm draining from his voice.

"Well, seeing as you asked so nicely..." Buffy purred, leaning on the bar as she spoke. "...I'm looking for someone. And I know you can help me with that."

"W..Well,... You know I can't go around betraying the confidences of all my associates." Willie procrastinated. "I have a reputation to think of."

"Do you *want* me to hit you?" Buffy raised a fist as if to emphasise the point.

After the slightest of pauses, Willie sighed. His shoulders sagging visibly. "Fine..." He said quietly. Reaching underneath the bar for a glass whilst retrieving a bottle of whisky with his other hand. "What do you want to know?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert grimaced as he pored over the lone book he'd had the foresight to bring with him. Whistler had left a good couple of hours ago. Something about going to shoot himself in the head because it would be more interesting, Robert shook his head. Demons could have strange priorities.

"He has the focus..." He mused to himself. "...But to focus what?" The book although a myriad source of knowledge, contained nothing that could help with his present dilemma. "What could he possibly hope to accomplish in the time he has left?" He muttered, leafing the page over as he searched for anything that could be of use to him.

Sensing a disturbance in the flow of energy he looked up at the door. When there was a knock at it a moment later he was not surprised, he was already part way across the room to answer it.

Buffy looked down at Robert quite taken aback, her hand poised to tap on the door for only the second time. Willow peered over Buffy's shoulder at him.

"Okay..." Buffy began. "Either that room is way smaller on the inside, or you have absolutely no life."

"It's you....." Robert said, almost beyond speech as realisation dawned on him.

"Yeah, regular little old me." Buffy responded

"....I think you'd better come in." Robert finished, no reaction to Buffy's words apparent in his own."

Buffy shook her head as she traversed down the three steps and into the room, looking round to absorb the full tragedy of the situation.

"Wow, I was right." She said. "You really do need a life... And an interior designer."

Willow glanced round the room. The disbelief on her face betrayed the incomprehensibility of such living conditions to her.

"You really live here?" Willow asked.

"It's only temporary." Robert answered. "I don't think I'll be here long."

"Doesn't look like we were interrupting anything." Buffy said. "We have a few things we need to discuss."

"I'm glad you came,..." Robert said. Turning to Willow he completed the sentence. "...If you hadn't I might not have known it was you."

"Huh?" Was the only verbal response Willow could deliver to that.

"You are the one." Robert's clarification left much to be desired.

"Okay, again.... Huh?" Buffy said.

Robert turned to look at Buffy as if she was a minor annoyance. "Presumably you're here because you found out some things about me that didn't sit well with you. If your watcher hasn't yet told you about the order then he doesn't deserve to be a watcher."

"No." Buffy corrected. "He has. Which is part of why we're here."

"The other part?" Robert asked curiously.

"The hand of Tyrael." Buffy said. Robert winced at the mispronunciation.

"I'm surprised." Robert responded. "Truth be told, I didn't think you'd pick up on that."

"We picked.... So spill." Buffy said plainly.

"It's a long story." Robert said. "Do you have an hour or two?" 


	6. Awakenings II, Chapter 2

Body

First off, thank you to everybody who has sent feedback to my story so far... It is very much appreciated.   
Second, I may in the not too distant future be needing the help of someone who can take a phrase in English and turn it into Latin... If anyone reading this is so skilled and willing to help I'd be very grateful if you could drop me a line.  
It pretty much goes without saying that I'll give you a mention if you can help me... but just in case it doesn't: I will.  
Also, you'll probably get in on plot spoilers for the story. (don't know whether that's a bonus or not) 

Anyway... enjoy the story and keep with sending the feedback. :-) 

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The tunnels beneath Sunnydale were a quiet place. Following the defeat of the Master the majority of the vampire population had chosen alternate dwellings. Today though, those tunnels had the honour of offering a home again. 

The globe of light drifted around the corner and into the chamber that had been home to the master almost a year ago. A moment later a man confidently strode round the corner after it. Slight of frame, but none the less imposing for it. Dressed almost entirely in black, the only thing that stood out about his wardrobe was the style of it. A jacket, light in weight but not colour, waistcoat, shirt, well tailored trousers and obviously expensive shoes completed an ensemble of sorts. The light from the globe cast dark, deep shadows, making his eyes resemble to black, bottomless wells of darkness. This wasn't too far from the reality. 

Following him two figures stumbled round the corner, obviously struggling to keep pace with him on the less than friendly terrain. They had a chance to catch him as he stood at the mouth of the cavern, observing intently as the orb swept around the cavern in majestic arcs, illuminating it for him to see. As the two figures entered into the illumination of the orb, it could be seen what they were. 

Vampires 

As the three of them, two vampire, one human studied the chamber one of the vampires spoke. 

"Malek....Master." It said uncertainly to the human. "This is... A church." 

Malek scowled with distaste before addressing his minion. "I know that. It's also where hell itself touches this world. My destiny lies down there." 

"But... The crosses." It protested. "We can't go down there." 

"You will go down there." The coldness in his voice was more threatening than any amount of anger could be. "Or I will drag you down there and crucify you on one of those things." 

Cowed, the two vampires began to traverse their way down into the cavern. Malek squinted as he identified a partially burnt down candle in the chamber. Investigation with the orb revealed many such candles throughout the chamber. With a flourish of his hand a myriad number of hisses was heard as all over the chamber candles sprung to life, offering sufficient though still meagre illumination. Pulling the hand of Tyrael out of a pocket on the inside of his jacket, he advanced down into the chamber himself. Above, he allowed the orb to dissipate, the chamber darkening only slightly in it's absence. From further into the chamber he heard a howl of pain. From one of the vampires running into a cross no doubt. 

He smiled. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Robert sat in his chair by the workdesk, Buffy leaned on the worksurface that bordered the meagre kitchen area, and Willow sat on another chair that had been rescued from a corner of the room. 

"Now the council, they believed they'd killed us." Robert said, partially through is discourse on what had happened. "Not quite though. From my understanding there was about five of us left at that time. A few years passed, and our numbers dwindled further. The only specific I know is that my master became the last about ten years ago." 

"What about you?" Willow asked. 

"Seven years." Robert replied. "And it's about a month since I became the last." 

"As interesting as it is, it hasn't told us anything that we need to know." Buffy complained. "What about the hand? Also... The one what? And why is it Willow?" 

"So far as I can tell, the hand was taken by Malek. I'm still trying to figure out why exactly." Robert addressed the first question. 

"Okay....."Buffy started. "...Who?" 

"Oh boy..." Robert sighed. 

A glance from Buffy convinced him to continue. 

"My master found Malek's ability a year after he found mine. He learned faster than me. That is to say that he found his natural limits first." 

"Limits?" Willow questioned. 

"You already know that only those with the highest magickal attunement can master our magicks. A part of that dictates how powerful you are. You can train to better harness the power you have, but no amount of training will increase that base power." 

"So?" Buffy remarked. 

"He was less than me, less than my master. Although powerful he was still the smallest of the three." Robert looked downward as he said the next words. "Although you cannot train to increase your power, there are other ways to that end." 

"I'm sensing that these ways might not be the healthiest of things." Willow commented. 

"Demons." Robert said. "They offer you power to you if you are willing to pay the price." He paused, more for dramatic effect than anything else. "The price is your soul. You get improved power for a time, then Demon gets your soul to play with and your body to use as their instrument. Sadly, many members of the order have succumbed to the temptation over the years." 

"He made a pact?" Willow logically extended the line that Robert was following. 

"He made several." Robert replied. "When my master found out about this he confronted him. Malek's power eclipsed him though. Malek left, my master never really recovered from that fight. That was eighteen months ago." 

"So he's on borrowed time." Buffy put forward. "How much does he have left?" 

"Weeks at most, probably less." Robert replied. "He's come to Sunnydale, stolen the hand. That means he's pretty desperate." 

"So what does he want with the hand? I mean... How's it going to help him?" 

"The hand plays a pivotal role in a particular ritual." Robert said. "But no-one's ever had the strength to be able to perform it. With all the pacts he's made, Malek might just pull it off." 

"And this ritual does what?" Buffy asked. 

"It draws power from an external source and adds it to the caster's own." Robert said. "I can only guess he's trying to push himself over the threshold. If he can make himself powerful enough, the demons won't be able to take their prize from him." 

"And this of course is a bad thing." Buffy commented, the tone to her voice making it difficult to tell if the comment was sincere or not. 

"Well if you count that this ritual will make him a few steps short of being a god in the process, then yes." Robert answered. 

"But of course you know the power source he's going to use, and when he's going to do this ritual don't you?" Buffy raised an eyebrow as she asked the question. She knew his answer, she just wanted to make him say it. 

"No I don't." Robert looked down at his feet as he answered the question. "I want to check with your watcher. He may be able to help with that." 

"We can go back to the library." Buffy said. "I'm sure Giles has lots more questions to grill you with." 

"What about this... 'One'?" Willow added quietly from her seated position. 

"That I do now about." Robert said. "For as long as the order has existed, so has the prophecy of the rebirth and of the one. There would come a time when the order would be persecuted by their allies who had lost their way. In this time, the order would dwindle in size, eventually their light would flicker and die in the night. It is now that was prophesied the coming of the one. The one would show the way to those who had lost it, in time the one would be the rebirth of the order." 

He turned to Willow. "I can say with some certainty that you are the one." 

"Oh." Willow said. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Xander looked out from the mausoleum onto the graveyard, the sunlight that still soaked the open ground forbidding him to step outside. Just fifty yards away a funeral was part way through it's proceedings. Standing nearly on the boundary between the light and the dark Xander looked back and forth between the two, the slowly fading afternoon light outside didn't look that different from the darkness on the inside.... Not from here. 

"Why couldn't they have had the funeral over this way a bit?..." Xander muttered to himself as he peered over in the direction of the funeral. 

"That's a stupid question." Whistler casually strolled into view from around the side of the mausoleum. 

"I could kill you where you stand." Xander threatened. 

"Oh yeah...... with your big pointy teeth an' all." Whistler replied nonchalantly. "And you could do a fairly good impression of the human torch while you're at it." 

Xander narrowed his eyes and growled at Whistler. 

"Now, the only reason I can think of for you to be here is to watch the funeral." Whistler gestured over in it's direction. "Lovely girl, she was. Went by the name of Lisa. Perhaps you knew her." 

"Let me think..." Xander paused in mock thought for a moment. "Oh yeah. Now I remember... I sucked her blood out. She really was a lovely girl, tasted a bit like peaches." 

In a burst of movement, Whistler moved forward and clamped his left hand around Xander's throat, carrying him back into the mausoleum until he met with the rear wall. 

"Y'know, you got one hell of a mouth on you for somethin' so young." He said, pinning Xander to the back wall with one hand. 

"And that bothers you because..." Xander replied, continuing the exercise in futility that was to struggle against Whistler's grip. 

"Don't bother me in the slightest kid." Whistler replied. "But I can see why it bothers her." 

"Won't matter." Xander said. "soon enough she'll be just like me." 

Whistler chuckled. A sound that Xander found oddly disconcerting. 

"You haven't quite figured it out yet, have you kid?" He asked rhetorically. "You're not like anything. You've got a soul now, whether you like it or not. And every day it gets stronger. You won't be able to ignore it for much longer." 

Off Xander's stunned silence Whistler continued. "See, you got yourself a choice now. There's two ways you can go from here. Neither of 'em pretty, but that's no fault of anyone but yourself. You can carry on the way you are... Get yourself one hell of a rep. Hell, you might even do better than your great grand-sire, but you know what happens at the end of that road. Or you can start playing for the home team. Of course, I know which one you'd pick, but there's a whole half of you that ain't spoke up yet. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens when it does." 

Xander shook his head. "So, was that for my benefit, or do you just like to hear your own voice?" 

"It was for the benefit of your better half." Whistler replied, releasing Xander and starting to walk away. "We'll talk again when you're in a more peaceable mood." He finished, walking out of the mausoleum. 

Xander simply glared at him as he left, not being able to do much else. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The three of them walked down the empty corridors toward the library. Robert in the centre, flanked on one side by Buffy, Willow on the other. Under his arm he carried a single book. 

"So all that magick that you do... I can do that?" Willow spoke up. 

"You've certainly got the potential." Robert replied. "It'll take time to learn, but you very well could be more powerful than the greatest of us ever were." 

"Wow.... When can I start?" 

"As soon as possible." Robert replied to Willow's question. "Once you've been taught the basics there's very little that can't be learnt with time and practice. But for now at least, Malek is the primary concern." 

"Actually, stopping Spike from calling forth Armageddon on us all is the primary concern." Buffy corrected. "This Malek character will be as screwed as the rest of us if the world gets sucked into hell, demi god or not." 

"What about Xander?" Willow asked as they approached the library doors. 

"Hopefully Giles will have found some way to save him." Buffy said, pushing the library doors open. "If not... I don't know that I could bring myself to slay him." 

From inside the library, Rupert Giles looked up as the doors were opened. The optimism on his face soon turned to dissatisfaction though, as he saw who Buffy and Willow had brought with them. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"So what you're saying...." Giles said somewhat distastefully. "Is that this 'Malek' Person is going to draw power from some external source into himself, and you want me to find out when and where he's going to do it." 

"Yeah," Robert answered. "Can you help?" 

"Quite possibly." Giles said pensively. "But I'm still trying to rationalise why I should." 

"He has power." Robert replied. "And the willingness to use that power for evil. If he pulls this off, he'll have even more power. You've seen what happened at the museum, he's willing to kill to achieve what he wants." Robert paused to let out an exasperated sigh. "Either we stop him now, or it might not be possible to stop him later." 

"Be that as it may, he's human. The slayer is not...." 

"Don't give me that crap!" Robert interrupted Giles mid sentence. "Slayers have full sanction to kill members of the order, and you know it!" 

"Actually I didn't." Giles answered, slightly perplexed. "I can certainly take a look. My research into the whereabouts of Spike's lair seems to have run aground." Giles turned to Buffy and Willow, both sitting off to one side, silently observing the exchange between Robert and Giles. "Buffy, If you could try and get some information out of your contact regarding Spike, I would be most appreciative." 

"Twice in one night?" Buffy asked, surprised. "Willie's really gonna hate me." 

"Even so, he's the only vaguely reliable source of information we have." Giles replied. 

"What about me?" Willow asked anxiously. 

"I think you'd be far better suited to staying here." Giles said. "Seeing as you may need further training, I don't feel it prudent to place you in any difficult situations." 

"Oh, okay." Willow replied, looking downcast. 

Giles turned back to Robert as Buffy made over to the door and out of the library. "Now, I believe that all the relevant information I have is contained in one or two large tomes. It wouldn't be particularly efficient to have more than one person looking over them." 

"In other words you don't want me nosing through your books." Robert smiled as he replied. 

"Exactly." Giles said. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Xander sat, hunched over the ancient book. looking up occasionally to scowl at his working conditions. The ritual was close to being ready despite the fact that the last two hours had yielded almost no progress whatsoever. The nagging feeling at the back of his mind was distracting him too much. Whenever he let his thoughts dwell on any of his former friends, or the girl that he had killed he could feel it intensifying. 

"Guilt?" He murmured to himself. "I'm not supposed to feel guilty." 

He leaned back in his chair as he thought back to what Whistler had said to him. 

"You're not like anything. You've got a soul now, whether you like it or not. And every day it gets stronger. You won't be able to ignore it for much longer." 

Xander was broken from his thoughts by the sound of a door opening behind him. Getting up and turning around, he saw Spike in the doorway. 

"With all that bloody moping you're doing, it'll be miracle if you ever work out how to do that ritual." 

"I've almost got it." Xander said, lazily sitting on the edge of the desk that accommodated the book. "One more day, tops. I should have your Armageddon ready to go by then." 

"I'm almost sorry to cut into your research time then." Spike responded. "But Dru reckons we're gonna have company soon. I want you upstairs so you'll be useful if the slayer does make a move. 

"What do you need me for?" Xander asked indignantly. "I didn't think you were scared of her." 

"I'm not." Spike retorted almost involuntarily. "But I didn't get to be one hundred and twenty years old by being stupid. She's gonna bring friends, I might as well do the same." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

In the library, Robert sat at the table with Willow, looking over the book he'd brought with him. Giles was in his office, rummaging through all of the books he'd rather not leave out in the library in case someone read them. A pencil hovered a short distance above the table between Robert and Willow, bobbing up and down slightly as it rotated in the air. Willow looked anxiously at Robert, whose attention was focused on the pencil. Slowly the pencil descended to the table, and Robert turned to Willow. 

"That was it?" Willow asked. 

"That was a fairly minor application of it," Robert said in reply. "Far more than that can be done with it." 

"Like what?.. Flying fatality with pencils?" Willow asked jokingly. 

"That's certainly a possibility." Robert raised his eyebrows as he spoke. "But I'm supposed to be teaching you, not the other way round." 

Willow smiled at that. "But how do you even begin to teach something like that?" 

"Well, you look to have some experience with conventional spellcasting. "Robert said, flicking through to a particular page of the book. "That's a good start. Now you have to learn to see the effects that your spells have. Chances are that some part of you can already see that, you just have to listen to it." 

"So how does that work then?" Willow questioned. 

"I Have some spells that do very little apart from creating an effect that can be observed by those who know how to look. I'll cast, you'll look." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Buffy sighed quietly as she made her way across the graveyard. Despite the inherent danger it was still the quickest way to get to Willie's bar. 

Reacting to a sound from behind her, she spun around, fist ready to strike. As she realised who it was she was about to punch, she pulled her hand back as a smile spread across her features. 

"Y'know, polite people don't sneak up on other people, in a graveyard, at night." She said. 

"I was on my way to your house." Came the heavily accented reply. "I saw you walking, couldn't help myself. I wanted to test your reflexes." 

"How about testing my face punching.." Buffy half laughed, half said. "I think you'll find it's improved. So, I'm guessing you're here because a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale. As opposed to the moderately dark powers that come and go without you batting an eyelid." 

"This one is serious." Kendra replied. "My watcher told me, all the signs show that the end of things could be tonight if it is not stopped." 

"And you couldn't get here sooner because?..." Buffy teased. 

"My flight was delayed." Kendra replied flatly. 

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you're here." Buffy said. "You remember your friend from the bar?.. I was just on my way to pay him a visit, want to come?..." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

In the Library, Willow and Robert sat around the table in conversation. Giles had been on his way out to them when the phone had rung. 

"And her watcher is sure that the signs point to tonight as potential Armageddon?" Giles said into the phone. 

"Yeah Giles, she's sure." the tinny voice replied. "There's a definite possible end of the world happening tonight. Who else do we know who has an apocalypse planned?" 

"Point taken." Giles responded. "But are you sure you don't want any backup?" 

There was a slight pause before the reply came. "No, there's trust issues with Robert, and anyone else would be more of a liability than a help. Besides, I'm not sure we've got time to wait for you guys to arrive." 

"Do be careful, both of you." 

"Will do Giles." 

"Just one more thing." Giles said before putting the phone down. "This 'Willie' character volunteered all of this information willingly, and gave you free use of his phone?" 

"Oh yeah... He's a real saint." Buffy responded. "I'll catch up with you later Giles." 

And the phone went silent. 

"That was Buffy?" Willow asked as Giles walked over to them. 

"Yes, Kendra's arrived in Sunnydale." 

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Willow asked. 

"It's bad because of potential Armageddon., which most likely means Acathla." Giles replied. "It's good though, that she has someone to help her stop it." 

"What about us?" Robert asked. 

"We're too far away to arrive in time given the location of where this is to be happening. And we're of too little use in a combat situation." The resentment in Giles' voice was carefully veiled, but detectable none the less. 

"So there's nothing we can do?" Willow asked. 

"Not particularly, no." Giles responded. 

"So, what did you find out about my problem?" Robert spoke up. 

"Not a great deal. The ritual you referred to can be cast in the hour after midnight, no other specific conditions are necessary, besides the energy source." 

"And of course you know all about the intended energy source." Robert pre-empted. 

"No I don't." Giles responded with a hint of indignation. "The whole area of energy sources is somewhat outside of my expertise. Aren't you supposed to be able to 'see' these energy sources, to be able to detect them without my help?" 

"Usually I can." Robert said. "But this close to the Hellmouth It's like trying to listen to your walkman when you're in the front row of the audience at a rock concert." 

"Wouldn't the Hellmouth make a fairly good energy source?" Willow asked. 

"In theory..." Giles said. "But no-one could possibly be stupid enough to do that." 

Robert remained silent. 

"I said... No-one could possibly be stupid enough to do that." 

"No, he could." Robert said. 

"Do you realise there's a very good possibility that he could open the thing?" 

"Yeah." Robert answered. 

"This 'Malek' person's gonna open the Hellmouth?" Willow asked, quite agitated. 

"Not intentionally." Giles replied. "And not at all if he's lucky. But forcing the amount of energy that this ritual entails through the Hellmouth could very possibly open it." 

"So Buffy and this other girl,.. Kendra. They're off on a wild goose chase while the real apocalypse is about to happen right here?" Robert said. 

"Not 'right' here." Giles clarified. "If I'm correct, the Hellmouth is about sixty or so feet beneath us. It's accessible through the sewers I believe." 

"We have to get there, now." Robert said. "He's gonna try and pull that ritual tonight. By the time the other two get back it might already have happened." 

"I can pull up the council records of the tunnels in this area." Willow said, moving over to the library computer. "That should find us a way down there." 

"They just 'let' you look up all those blueprints?" Robert asked, somewhat taken aback. 

"No." Giles responded. "But that never stopped her before." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Y'know, I think Giles was cranky because you didn't want him coming with us." Willow said to Robert as they carefully made their way down the murky passageway. 

"I'd rather that I didn't endanger either of you." Robert replied. "But he was gonna make me knock him out if I didn't take someone with me." 

"So, why me and not him?" 

"Well, I just get the suspicion that maybe he doesn't trust me all that much." 

"Y'know, I picked up on that too. Can't think why that would be though..." 

Robert turned to look condescendingly at Willow. "For some reason, you don't seem to have that problem." 

"That's my mother talking." Willow said. "Self appointed guardian of oppressed people everywhere. It doesn't sound like you trust him a great deal either though." 

"It's nothing personal, but he IS watchers council." 

"Yeah, but Giles isn't like, evil watcher guy. He's Giles..." 

"Shhh." 

"No, I really think you need to hear this...." Willow responded. 

"No, we're getting close... we need to be quiet." Robert hissed. 

"Oh." Willow mouthed. 

Robert looked round the corner down the tunnel. The two vampires were at the end, their attention focused on the happenings inside the chamber that was at the end of the tunnel. Robert held a hand out backwards toward Willow, and a stake that Willow had produced from a bag she was carrying was placed in it. Robert turned his head back to Willow momentarily to see that she also had a stake of her own. 

Robert held the stake out in front of him on his outstretched palm. When he removed his hand the stake remained in the air, bobbing up and down ever so slightly. With his hand Robert made a pushing motion away from himself. The stake started moving through the air. Slowly at first, but increasing in momentum as it closed the distance between him and the vampires. 

The first vampire never knew what hit him. Knocked from it's footing by the impact, it fell face first down into the cavern. The body was dust before it hit the ground. 

The second vampire snarled as it turned to face the threat. Robert purposefully strode down the corridor toward the vampire, Willow just behind. After a short exchange of blows the vampire fell backwards onto the floor, it's footing lost. As Robert stood over the vampire ready to kill it he became aware of another presence in the tunnel. 

Turning to face this new aggressor, Robert gasped as he saw what it was. The thing that advanced toward him, despite having a human shape was devoid of almost all features. The furious assault that Robert launched against it seemed to be to no effect as the thing shrugged off even the most powerful of blows. Willow stood helpless during the proceedings, unable to join the attack because of the narrow confines of the tunnel. The thing itself half heartedly blocked a portion of the incoming attacks, whilst effecting an attack of it's own. After one particularly nasty punch Robert slumped, unconscious to the floor. Willow crouched down to Robert, staring up hatefully at the thing, but without the resolve to fight it herself. 

After a moment or two, the surviving vampire groaned as it got up from the floor. The featureless enemy seemed to dissolve into nothingness and a figure came walking down the tunnel. 

Smiling as he approached, he said to Willow. "Ah, I see you have more sense than your friend here." 

"You're Malek aren't you?" Willow questioned. 

"Much more sense." Malek corrected himself. "One wonders why you came here in the first place. Loyalty is such... flimsy grounds on which to endanger your life." 

"What... Was that thing?" 

"Full of questions. Unfortunately I don't have time to answer them all." Malek addressed the vampire. "Carlos, take them to the cage, and don't kill them. If you do, You'll be the first thing I kill when I'm done here." 

The vampire nodded, taking all of Willow's weapons and tossing them casually to Malek. Malek turned and walked back toward the cavern. The vampire ushered Willow, and carried Robert roughly off down a side tunnel. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"This is the place?" Kendra asked as she looked up at the mansion. 

"Sure looks that way." Buffy replied, producing a stake from careful concealment. "What do you think about entry?" 

"Main door is too obvious." Kendra replied. "We might need surprise." 

"Speed works for surprise." Buffy said. "And we so don't have time to go climbing over the walls like Spiderman." 

"True." Kendra said, producing a stake of her own. 

Spike stood in the main room, Acathla stood, proudly inanimate in front of the fireplace. The sword protruding a good three feet from it's chest. He glanced to either side, making sure that Xander and Dru were in the right places: Concealed from the main entrance to the room, but not more than ten paces from Him. 

He looked up at the crashing noise. Watching as the main doors, swinging raggedly inward, silhouetted the two slayers in the doorway. 

"I am so going to kill you..." Buffy said with quiet determination as she and Kendra advanced toward Spike. 

"I'm already dead luv..." Spike said, gesturing to Xander and Drusillia who stepped out to enclose the two slayers in a rough semicircle. "But don't get jealous, You'll find out what it's like soon enough." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 


	7. Awakenings II, Chapter 3

Awakenings II part 3 Didn't I say it migh take me a while to get new material up? :-).   
Seriously, this has been ready to go for a little while apart from the latin translations. They're what slowed me down. After much searching I couldn't find anyone who could translate them. At least not without a fee. So the small amounts of latin you see in this part are courtesy of me and a latin dictionary. I apologise in advance if anyone reading this knows latin as they are invariably more than a little sloppy. But anyway... Enjoy what's here... and hopefully the parts should start to come a bit faster now. We are well over the half way stage her.... I'd estimate about 30% left to go, And I'm actualy getting some serious motivation here. 

Anyway... anyone still following this story... feedback is more than welcome as it lets me know people are still reading what I have to write. 

And I apologise in advance for being ominous and forshadowey. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Buffy lunged at Spike, stake extended to strike. Spike blocked the quick jab, and swung Buffy round, sending her staggering backwards deeper into the room. Drusillia dived at Kendra, pushing her out of the way as she went to stake Spike in the back. 

Xander stood, immobile as he wrestled with the demon inside of him. He could feel it, the anger rising, and the urge to tear the two slayers limb from limb. With great effort he exerted what control he could. But he was still the weaker part, and it was only a question of how long he could keep the demon out of the fight. 

Spike snarled as he blocked another of Buffy's quick jabs, knocking the stake from her hand and forcing her to step back in order to keep her footing in the process. 

Kendra and Drusillia circled warily around each other, each keeping their distance. Swift attacks were met with equally swift evasive action, neither willing to turn the fight to close quarters. 

Buffy launched a renewed assault at Spike. This time partially successful. Spike tumbled to the floor, rolling as he landed, and was up on his feet a few metres distant before Buffy had the chance to recover her stake.   
"Now, that hurt." He said, reassuming a combat stance as he brought his vampire face to the surface. 

Inside of Xander something gave. His eyes that had been locked staring straight ahead snapped to the fight happening around him as he too brought his vampire face to full display. 

Spike took the fight to Buffy. Striking out, he forced her to stumble backwards under his attack. From her location, in-between the fight and the door she had come in by, she looked on in horror as events unfolded in the fight. 

Drusillia, forced backwards by one of Kendra's attacks lost her footing. Falling to her knees, she held her hands up to protect herself as Kendra raised her stake to strike.   
The strike never came.   
Kendra gasped as the clawed hand grasped itself around her wrist, the cracking noises made as Xander applied pressure were drowned out by Kendra's exclamation of pain as the stake dropped from her hand. Bringing his other hand around to grip her throat, Xander stepped up behind her. There barely followed time for anyone to react before Xander sunk his fangs into her neck, drinking deeply of her blood.   
"No..." Buffy mouthed as Xander released Kendra and she dropped limply to the floor.   
"Oh yeah baby." Xander more breathed than said as he stepped over Kendra to stand next to Spike. Also, Drusillia had got to her feet, and was standing just behind them. 

Buffy Looked between the three vampires facing her, and Kendra who looked plaintively up at her, trying to extend a hand to her. Buffy Summers, vampire slayer, did the only thing she could do. 

She ran. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Robert almost unconsciously raised his hand up to the pain on the side of his head as he opened his eyes, the sudden pain that caused him to wince an take a sharp intake of breath was a good indication that he'd found it. 

From her sitting position a few feet away, Willow looked over at the sound. "You awake?"   
"Yeah." Robert fought the dizziness to pull himself up into a similar sitting position. Looking around at his surroundings he saw that they were in a makeshift cell that had been made by fixing a cage door to one of the tunnel alcoves. The cell was perhaps six by four feet, with no internal features. Looking out through the door, he saw the surviving vampire.   
"So, what now?" Willow asked.   
"What time is it?"   
"11:48." Willow replied, looking at her watch. "Why?"   
"Because any time after midnight he can pull off that ritual."   
"We have to get out of here." Willow said urgently.   
The vampire turned to face them. Please do, I haven't eaten in a while." It said, grinning menacingly.   
"That reminds me." Willow said to Robert, trying her best to ignore the vampire. "Why didn't he kill us?"   
"He's got a soul just like us." Robert replied. "I'm guessing he doesn't want to kill unless he has to."   
Sighing in a dissatisfactory manner the vampire started pacing, passing occasionally in front of the cell as it discontentedly walked back and forth.   
"That thing, What was it?" Willow asked.   
"The thing that did this?" Robert said, gesturing to the bruise on his head.   
"Yep, that one."   
"It's called an Avatar." Robert replied. "In the past, many adepts would combine their powers to create an instrument; a physical embodiment of their will. I never imagined he'd be strong enough to make one on his own."   
"How do you kill it?"   
"You don't,.. you can't." Robert said. "It isn't alive."   
"It looked pretty alive to me." Willow commented.   
"Well sure... It moves, it fights, if you really want you can make it talk. But it's just a tool, and maintaining it is not an easy thing. To control it fully he'd have to almost be in a trance. Get close to him, and he'll drop it so that he can defend himself. Besides, I don't think he's going to be able to keep that thing up while he starts the ritual, if we're lucky we won't see it again."   
"So, we just bust out of here, kill the vampire, and stop him?" Willow put forward.   
"Not strong enough to break that open." Robert said, gesturing to the cage door. "There is a key for it, right?"   
Willow nodded. "The vampire has it."   
"Hmm."   
"You can get us out of here can't you?"   
"I think so." Robert said. "But I'm going to need your help to do it."   
Willow looked across at him. "What do you need me to do?" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Giles paused to look at his watch as he worriedly paced back and forth across the library.   
11:54. It probably wouldn't be more than ten minutes before the ritual would begin. As he turned to begin pacing in the other direction, Buffy burst through the library doors.   
It only took one glance for Giles to see the hurt in her eyes as she stood in the doorway, breathing heavily.   
"My word! What happened? Are you okay?"   
After a moment or two Buffy had regained enough composure to speak. "I think we've found a loophole in that thing where I'm supposed to die." She said forlornly.   
"what happened? Kendra?"   
Buffy looked down at the floor.   
"Oh." Giles made no attempt to hide the pained expression on his face.   
"It happened right in front of me Giles. Right in front of me and I couldn't do a thing to stop it." Buffy said as she made her way over to a chair to collapse in.   
"What did we accomplish?"   
"Nothing." Buffy said glumly as she sat down. "We didn't get any of them.. And something wasn't right, they weren't apocalypse ready."   
"I fear that we all jumped far too hastily to conclusion earlier. Willow and Robert..."   
"Yeah, speaking of, where are they?"   
"As far as we could tell, the potential apocalypse is going to happen beneath us, on the Hellmouth."   
"They've gone to stop it?"   
Giles nodded.   
"And you couldn't wait for me why?"   
"We didn't think you'd be back in time." Giles stated. "And seeing as we'll know whether or not they have been successful in about ten minutes I'd say that the decision was well justified."   
Buffy got up from the chair and walked over to the office, coming back out with a two handed axe of reasonable size.   
"What are you doing?" Giles asked.   
"Going to make sure nobody else dies on my shift." Buffy said plainly.   
"But how will you know where they are?"   
"I died down there Giles. I think I remember it fairly well."   
"I take it you want me to stay here." Giles said.   
"Do you think you can keep up with me?" Buffy responded.   
Giles shook his head despondently. "No."   
"Then you'd best stay here." She replied as she walked out of the library. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"So, how does this work?" Willow asked.   
"We need to kill the vampire before we can get out." Robert replied. "Once the vampire's out of the way, I should be able to get this open without too much trouble."   
"Oh, so all we have to do is kill the vampire." Willow said nonchalantly. "From in here, with no weapons of any kind. Shouldn't be too difficult."   
"I can burn the vampire." Robert replied. "But not from that distance, not without help."   
"My help?" Willow questioned.   
"Yes." Robert confirmed. "We'll need to combine our strengths to be able to manage it."   
"Y'know, I... Don't think I know how that's done..."   
"Well, let's hope you're a fast learner." Robert replied. "It's much more an act of will than any amount of skill."   
Robert held his hand out to Willow who, after a second of hesitation connected her hand with his own. There was a slight tingling, and what seemed like a static discharge at the point of contact.   
The vampire walked back in front of the cage, smiling evilly as it looked inside.   
"Now, isn't that cute?.." the thing said, suppressing a chuckle.   
Robert's eyes snapped to the vampire as the words were spoken. With a hand extended he projected energy out of himself and focused it with a gesture at a single point inside the vampire. The vampire's attempt to move was stopped by a small alteration of the gesture. With a groan of pain the vampire dropped to it's knees. A small, almost imperceptible golden orange glow was at the centre of it's chest, and Willow could have sworn that she saw a few tendrils of smoke drifting up from there. Just as the glow started to become easily visible the disintegration began. All the colour and moisture seeming to drain from the vampire, until is seemed for a split second that it was stone. Then gravity caught up with the dust and it fell to the ground, the tinkle of metal on stone drawing both Robert's and Willow's attention to where the key lay amongst the dust.   
Letting the air out of his lungs with a sigh, Robert slowly got up and walked over to the cage door.   
"You okay?" Willow called from behind him, getting up herself.   
"Yeah, that just took a bit out of me. That's all."   
Willow glanced at her watch. "It's 12:05, shouldn't he have started by now?"   
"We should probably be thankful that he hasn't." Robert said without looking back, his attention focused entirely on the key as it slowly drifted through the air towards the lock. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Malek circled the symbol on the floor of the cavern, bending low to one side to trace a line around it in the dirt with the dagger. Enclosing the symbol were six pedestals upon which candles sat unlit, As the line he was tracing reached each of the pedestals in turn the candles atop them burst into life. As he completed the circle, Malek looked up towards the symbol, with the completed circle he could see that the spiral pattern of the symbol was already beginning to draw energy in.   
Walking to the centre of the symbol, Malek lifted the dagger, the Hand of Tyrael up to his hand.   
"Substantia meum ad manus."   
He drew the blade across the palm of his left hand, opening a shallow cut that left the golden blade stained a bronze colour.   
"Substantia meum manus mihi refero. quod magis."   
He knelt down, the dagger poised above the focus of the symbol, pointing downwards.   
"medium est manus."   
The dagger was plunged into the earth, the release of power very nearly causing him to topple backwards.   
"Potentia adeo manus."   
Holding his left hand above the dagger he clenched his fist, causing a few drops of blood to drop down onto it. Where the blood touched the dagger it pulsed with a bright light.   
"Adeo!"   
The chamber was shaken by tremors as he completed the incantation. The candles atop the pedestals seemed to disappear as they were engulfed by a magical flame fully twice their height   
emanating from the top of the pedestals. Malek fell to his knees, overwhelmed by the power. Gasping, he looked at the Hand of Tyrael, the whole of the dagger seemed to be shining with an internal light. It took much of his willpower not to reach out and take what was there, but there was far more to come, that much was for certain. Steeling himself he got to his feet and made his way out of the circle, noticing how the boundary seemed almost solid, but parted for his passage. As he cleared the circle, he became aware of other presences in the cavern.   
"Somehow I didn't think you'd stay away." He said, looking up to the mouth of the cavern where Robert and Willow stood.   
"And miss the big show?... Never gonna happen." Robert responded, clambering at speed down to the cavern floor.   
Malek moved over to an open patch of ground as Robert reached the cavern floor, each focusing the entirety of their attention on each other. Willow picked her way down to the cavern floor with deliberate care.   
"So, Is this the part where you try to convince me to stop this?" Malek said sarcastically.   
"If I thought we could talk you out of it..." Robert responded. "But I reckon putting you out and stopping it is a far more likely solution."   
Robert and Malek circled warily around each other, each searching for an opening or a weakness somewhere. Willow had just reached the bottom of the cavern, and made her way over to the two of them as fast as she could.   
"Putting me out of what, dare I ask?" Malek said.   
"Consciousness,.. Your misery... Whatever it takes." Robert responded.   
"Even more perplexing is how you intend to accomplish that..." Malek said, his voice full of venom. "Unless you're going to have your little sidekick here do the fighting for you." 

There was a split second's delay as Malek watched the rage building inside Robert... Then the attack came.   
Stepping forward, Robert lanced out with his fist, the blow missing only by the narrowest of margins as Malek twisted to one side.   
Malek could feel the anger building inside Willow as she rapidly approached the fight.. She had also heard the last comment. Striking out with his return blow he was surprised to find that Robert had actually evaded it.   
Unsteadied by the sudden reaction he'd had to take, Robert took a step back in a defensive posture. Moving in quickly, Willow struck out as best she could at Malek. Malek evaded the blow with ease, and placed a hand in front of Willow's stomach about six inches away. What followed that was a visible pulse of energy, Willow was thrown through the air to land some distance away, and out of easy view with all the clutter in the cavern.   
Robert looked for a moment back and forth between Malek and the area where Willow had landed... Then he attacked.   
Willow moaned quietly as she pulled herself up onto her knees. From her position she could hear the fight proceeding, although she couldn't see it, nor could she place it with the sound distortion in the cavern. Slowly getting to her feet she unconsciously felt for the amulet that was still around her neck. It was almost hot to the touch. She scanned the cavern for the fight from where she stood, it didn't take long to find it.   
The sheer fury that Robert fought with was enabling him to hold his own despite Malek's superior ability, but it was all too clear who the better combatant was.   
Willow strained to follow the blows as they arced back and forth between Malek and Robert. Only a few days ago she would hardly have been able to see the blows, let alone make sense of them. Quietly she worked her way unseen to where the symbol adorned the floor.   
Robert was beginning to feel the exertion as the fight raged between him and Malek. He seemed barely able to stave off Malek's assault, let alone launch one of his own. Malek's arm was deflected scant inches from his chest and his own response was picked off before even breaching the outer layers of Malek's defence. His breath coming in short ragged gasps, he tried to appeal to Malek as he gave ground.   
"This ... isn't worth it ... you know what's ... going to happen ... don't you?" Robert managed to say whilst maintaining an adequate deafens.   
"Silly boy," Malek admonished, speaking with a fluid ease despite the furious attack he was sustaining. "I know exactly what will happen. If the ritual is not performed then I am as good as dead. That is all that is of consequence."   
"And it doesn't ... bother you that ... you're pulling ... the Hellmouth open ... with this ritual?"   
"Of course it bothers me," Malek responded calmly. "but I am only doing what is necessary for my survival."   
"I forgot ... that's all that ... matters to you, ... your own well being. ... Doesn't ever ... occur to you ... does it, ... that there may ... be things in ... this world that ... are more ... important than you?"   
"With that kind of attitude you'll end up a martyr or a nobody." Malek replied softly. "I desire better than that."   
"Better a martyr or nobody than what you are." Robert snapped back.   
Robert was ready for the outburst when it came. In a single quick movement he was in inside Malek's attack. Striking out, his elbow connected squarely with Malek's solar plexus, the sound of the impact was audible like a thunderclap. Malek recoiled back from the blow, his arms retracted into a defensive position, and Robert had the barest of moments to wonder why Malek's chest hadn't caved in under the force of the blow.   
Then, without warning the moment was over and Malek was on the attack again. 

Willow came to where the symbol adorned the floor. The symbol was marked in strokes of some unidentifiable material that glowed a luminescent white in the gloom of the cavern. The dagger, the Hand of Tyrael was embedded in the ground at the centre, and the periphery of the symbol was marked by six candles on shoulder high pedestals. Huge amounts of energy were visible to her, coalescing at the edge of the symbol and flowing in a spiral pattern towards the Hand at the centre.   
Cautiously, Willow held her hand up to the periphery and was met by a palpable resistance, so much so that she couldn't force her hand over the boundary. Glancing back towards the fight Willow sank with dismay. Malek had forced Robert back almost to the cavern mouth. Robert was suffering visibly from his exertions and had begun to favour one leg between now and when she had last looked. In desperation she looked back and forth between the fight and the circle. The fight would be over before the minute was out, and the only way it would end well was if she could halt the ritual. Her hand reached up unconsciously to clutch the amulet as her mind raced in desperate thought.   
The solid thought of an idea formed in her head with the clasping of her hand around the amulet, almost as if the still warm metal had imparted the knowledge to her. She looked back toward the fight again, decisively this time. The fight was in the closing moments now. Robert was down to his knees, and the blow that would be the end of it was only moments away now. In one motion the amulet was gone from her neck and was in her palm in front of her, the clink of metal as it's light chain broke links seeming to her to be louder than any other sound in the cavern. In a movement that seemed almost casual the amulet was tossed from her hand toward the centre of the circle.   
"Noooooo!"   
Willow heard the cry almost as soon as she felt the ripples from the amulet breaching the periphery. The cry of sheer anguish stretched the normally abrupt word out into a sound that defied language. Even before she turned around, Willow knew that the originator of the cry was Malek. As she turned she was speared by Malek's eyes looking straight at her, condemning perhaps. Malek held her gaze for perhaps half a second,... Then Robert's foot connected with the small of his back, sending him tumbling over the floor.   
It was the sound that drew willow's gaze back to the circle, the low hum that had been audible accompaniment to the circle had risen in pitch to a high wail, and was interlaced with a sound like ice cubes cracking in warm water. The amulet sat half on half off one of the luminescent white strokes that comprised the symbol, metal heated almost to melting in a matter of seconds and the amethyst staring out like a single malevolent eye. She could see how the energy welled behind the amulet, as water behind a dam. Then in the blink of an eye the amulet was gone, exploding into gobbets of metal that landed just outside of the periphery. The mass of energy that had been held in abeyance by the amulet continued on it's path toward the hand. The tidal wave of energy had made it's way to the hand in less than a second, and the hand didn't take kindly to it. For the briefest of moments the hand seemed to glow brighter than humanly possible. Then, like the amulet before it, it exploded.   
The power contained within the explosion was enough to topple Willow from her feet, leaving her sitting on the ground. The symbol was now blackened and burnt into the ground it had adorned, the pedestals blackened and burnt on their inside facing and the flames atop them had been extinguished like candles in a hurricane.   
Raising herself from the ground Willow looked back across to where Robert and Malek were. The shock and horror on his face had turned to pure and simple anger.   
"What you have just done now has condemned me." His voice carried the distance of the cavern despite it's lack of volume. "If I am to end like this then I will see your broken body at my feet before I am gone."   
He rose to his feet just as Robert descended upon him, scant seconds later Robert was sent back in the direction he had come from, though rather less in control of his own movements. Malek continued his stride towards Willow unimpeded. Robert looked towards her from where he knelt on the ground, his eyes conveying a single message. "Run."   
Willow stood firmly, the only certainty was that she would not run. She would stand and fight if it was needed of her, but she would not turn tail and run now that she had it within her to fight. In the end Malek never even got half way to her. 

Willow saw the look in his eyes change back from anger to abject horror as the pain, to which his cry attested, bent him double.   
"No! Not yet..." The words seemed forced out of his mouth as if human speech was suddenly something it was unaccustomed to creating.   
What followed almost defied human speech to describe it.   
Flesh boiled, there were no other words that would do it justice. Spines, spikes of bone shot their way out from the shape that was no longer recognisable as human, rending the clothes that tried their best to accommodate the warped form. The flesh changed in colour, darkening to a scorched black before starting to lighten to a ruddy red colour. Willow watched in mesmerised horror as the flesh warped and twisted into it's new form, from somewhere else extra mass was being added into the mix. After what seemed an eternity she managed to pull her gaze away from Malek and look to Robert, no sorrow could she detect on his face, mostly the same morbid disgust that she felt, but also there was an ashen look to his face. It was only then that Willow began to imagine the things that she could not yet see but that he could. Her eyes met his for a second and she wasn't sure but she could have sworn she saw envy in his. It was then that the gasp of air being drawn into new lungs drew her attention back to the form on the floor.   
Willow watched as the thing raised itself up onto two legs, the backward jointed legs should by all rights have ended in cloven hooves but Willow wasn't surprised when she saw the inch long talons at their end. Such seemed to be the way of things with demons. At full height the thing stood eight feet tall, and a good five foot wide at the shoulder, the flesh of the beast looked terracotta in the gloom, and had a sparse covering of scales the colour of jet. Cruel spikes, curved and serrated jutted from the back of it's ribcage, it's shoulders, and elbows. Atop the shoulders was the head, about what you might expect if you went halfway between a gorilla and a tiger, though the scales gave a reptilian slant to it. Oddly enough, the thing's head was what disquieted Willow least about it. Arms, long but no less muscular for it trailed down to the things knees and ended in the same talons that were on it's feet.   
With eyes that glowed a dirty orange colour it surveyed the place of it's birth. There was fire in the eyes, but nothing that resembled human intelligence. The thing looked at Willow, then over at Robert, then at Willow again. Then its first step in the world was taken towards Willow.   
"How do you kill such a thing?" Willow had meant the words only for herself, but for some reason they seemed to carry across the entire cavern.   
The reply sounded from the mouth of the cavern. "You don't. I do."   
All three pairs of eyes in the cavern snapped to Buffy as if commanded to. Willow and Robert both let out sighs of relief. The creature turned to face Buffy and roared, the entire cavern reverberating under the power of it's lungs. Buffy brought the axe up in front of her, the weapon seeming absurdly large for someone her size, then she charged down into the cavern below, traversing the uneven ground at what seemed a suicidal speed. The creature brought it's arms up in front of itself, the claws on them suddenly appearing far more threatening than they had before. It stepped forward growling, razor sharp and dagger sized teeth bared..   
Then Buffy reached the cavern floor and battle was joined.   
It is a rare thing to see a slayer so deep in battle that they are lost to it. Despite the huge strength and unnatural agility of the beast it was fated to death the moment the battle had begun. Had another ten demons just like this one been placed before her, Buffy would have killed them too.   
The battle lasted all of thirty seconds. When it was over, the axe was embedded so deeply in the demon's chest that the metal of the axe-head couldn't be seen. Buffy paused to wipe the sweat from her brow, inspecting the shallow cuts where the demon's claws had found one of her arms. Willow was the first to reach her, Robert behind by the smallest of measures. Willow saw the pain on Buffy's face as soon as she got close, there were a hundred questions that sprang to her lips but she bit back on all of them. There were more important things at hand.   
Buffy looked back and forth between Willow and Robert for a moment before she spoke.   
"Is it stopped?" Buffy's voice came out a good deal more cracked than she liked.   
"Yes." Robert cast an eye over to the circle as he spoke. "But we may have a problem."   
Willow looked quizzically at Robert, whereas Buffy simply raised an eyebrow as the prompt for him to explain. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Giles' raised eyebrow seemed remarkably similar to Buffy's as Robert explained the situation to his second audience of the night. He'd be the first to admit that saying the exact same things twice to two different people ... especially when they were perfectly capable of talking to each other was wearing more than a little thin, but desperate times called for desperate measures.   
"The Hellmouth is still closed." He said. "But not as tightly. There is a natural flow of energy through the Hellmouth, there always has been. Whilst the ritual was stopped and the Hellmouth is still closed, there was some damage and the flow of energy through there is much greater than before."   
"And I take it that this damage will repair itself given time?" Giles gave the cold, analytical response that even in the short time Robert had known him he had come to expect.   
"That I don't know." Robert answered. "I believe that it will, but I couldn't say anything with the kind of certainty that you'd like."   
"Could you guess at how long it might take for it to repair itself, presuming that it will?"   
"Again, I simply don't have that knowledge." Robert replied. "Weeks, months, years, decades even maybe. I don't have the answer to give you."   
"And until the damage heals itself we'll be subject to increased supernatural activity of all varieties, one would presume." Giles did an excellent job of making the question sound like an offhanded comment.   
"That would be my guess to." Robert confirmed. "But I think we'll just have to wait and see."   
"That's what I like least about this." Giles said grimly. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Bloody lunacy! That's what it is." Spike shouted. "There's a reason why it doesn't happen. Everyone old and strong enough to pull it off knows better."   
"Are you telling me that you'd pass up an opportunity like this?" Xander bared the skin on his arm as he spoke.   
"Yeah." Spike answered. "That's exactly what I'd do. I'd drink her dry and dump the body on the watcher's doorstep. But this...." Spike sighed with exasperation. "It's your kill so it's your choice. But I wouldn't."   
The moonlight glinted off Xander's claw as he carved a gout into his forearm. "That's the difference between you and me." He said.   
"That, one slayer, and half a brains worth of common sense." Spike shook his head as he said the words, almost laughing them out.   
Xander didn't reply as he took the girl's head in his hand, easing it up until the lips pressed against the wound on his arm.   
And he watched with satisfaction as Kendra drank from it. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   



	8. Awakenings III, Chapter 1

Almost done now. Just one more part and maybe an epilogue (depends wether I decide to lump the epilogue with the next part or not).   
Anyway, feedback (as always) is welcome. 

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Awakenings III - Into the light   
  


What we once were informs all that we have become.   
The same love will infect our hearts, even if they no longer beat.   
Simple death won't change that. 

-Darla   


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Willie's bar was oddly empty. Although the air was still clogged with the smoke created by those recently vacated, only the most staunch or the most naive remained now. 

"There ya' go." Willie exhaled as he deposited the drink on the bar next to Xander. "Never say your friend Willie don't come through in a pinch." 

Xander looked uncomprehendingly at Willie before groggily swiping the drink from the bar and knocking it back in one swig. This was obviously not his first drink of the night. 

"You're gonna put me out of business you know." Willie said, gesturing in a grandiose motion that encompassed the entire bar. "All my best customers are gone the minute you walk in that door." 

"No one's brave enough to share the bar with the great Xander Harris." Xander couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it as he spoke. 

"You better believe it." Willie said, pouring another measure of the golden liquid into Xander's glass. "You killed yourself a slayer. That kinda news travels fast." 

Xander snapped his head back, tipping the golden yellow liquid down his throat in one fluid motion. "All these things I've done,.. was meant to do. You wouldn't think that something such as me could feel bad about them." As the glass slammed down onto the bar he placed his hand on top of it, signalling that he'd drunk enough. 

Willie carried the bottle over to it's home. Placing it on the shelf he turned and walked back over to Xander, observing him carefully as he did so. 

"It is true then? A soul?" He finally said, and a good deal quieter than Xander expected. "There were rumours that said as much, but nobody would believe them after you killed a Slayer." 

Xander simply looked at him, the expression on his face saying more than his words ever could. 

"You are in it then.." Willie continued. "Right up to your eyeballs. What do you figure to happen now?" 

"By the time I sober up It'll be back in the driver's seat." Xander said, referring to the demon. "After that we'll have to wait and see how long it takes before I can take over again." 

Willie shook his head, but the expression on his face was one of sympathy. "That's not something I'd wish on anyone. I'd stake you here and now, be doing you a favour... But if I did that, no one would ever come to my bar again." 

"No... I wouldn't stick my neck out either if I were you." Xander responded. 

Willie chuckled. "At least we understand each other. There's a lot to be said for that."   


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


Giles sighed as he sat at the library desk. The words didn't come easily, he'd given words of this sort more times than he liked and they never came easily. He was aware of the attention on him and that his pause seemed to be growing rather too long. 

"She was a brave girl." He let out the words that he had, aware of how inadequate they sounded. "A death like the one she had fits a warrior, but it's not a death I'd wish upon anyone." 

Muted sounds of approval let him know that the words were anything but inadequate. 

"Who's the vampire that we need to repay the debt to?" Robert spoke from near the back of what might manage to pass itself off as a crowd. Buffy, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Giles, and himself were the only occupants of the library, but the way they clumped around the central table made a fairly passable crowd. 

The room fell silent as Buffy's response was awaited, the moment stretching out into a tangible, measurable amount of time. After what seemed a lot longer than it actually was, Willow broke the silence. 

"It was Xander." She said in a tone quiet enough that it carried over the table only with great difficulty. 

Buffy said nothing, a slight bow of her head being sufficient confirmation. 

What followed was a different reaction from everyone. 

Giles simply looked down at the floor, pulling a handkerchief from the front pocket of his tweed jacket and holding it to the bridge of his nose with one hand as he removed his glasses with the other. 

Buffy on the contrary, looked for all the world like a great burden had been lifted from her. Robert could still tell that she bore more than someone of her years should have to, but it seemed greatly lessened by sharing such terrible news. 

Willow hardly seemed to react at all, but her eyes told the story. She had always held hope that Xander could be redeemed, the ritual of restoration had been testament to the determination behind that hope. He could see that the hope was still there, although the chances for Xander's glorious redemption dwindled with every action he took. Robert could see how that cut her up inside. And evidently he wasn't the only one. 

The look on Oz's face was easy enough to see, but Robert couldn't for the life of him pin down what was behind it. The only thing Robert could guess was that Willow, rather than Xander was the source of Oz's downcast expression. 

Cordelia, much like Oz was an unknown to Robert. Just about the only thing he could tell was that this revelation was causing her much pain. 

Giles was the first to speak. "I had held hope that the ritual of restoration had been successful after a fashion." He paused to exhale slowly. "But if Xander is capable of such a thing, then... I can't see how such a thing could be possible." 

"I'm gonna have to slay him." Buffy said quietly, her eyes directed downwards to avoid the gaze of everyone in the room. 

"No you're not." Robert cut in after a moment of uneasy silence. 

Buffy looked up at him. "You're going to take on Xander? In your condition? I think you must have damaged something in your head as well." 

"I might not be on top form right now, but I'm still combat ready." Robert said. "And you're going to need all the help you can get. Walking in there on your own would be glorified suicide, even with me helping I'm not sure how much better it would be." 

"Well,...." Willow began, somewhat unsure of herself. "You'll have me helping too." 

"Are you sure?" Giles asked. 

"I can help." Willow replied. "And there's no way I can stand and watch knowing I could have done something." 

Giles nodded. "We'll have to see what we can do to prepare you in that case." 

"I think I can help there." Robert said.   


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


Willow rubbed her temples from where she sat off to one side of the library. Robert stood a short distance away intently reading the one tome that he had with him, whilst around the main table Giles and Oz pored over a depressingly large pile of books. Buffy and Cordelia were currently facing the marginally less daunting task of exams. 

Willow looked up at Robert and after a moment of contemplation, spoke. "I don't know if I'll be able to do this." 

"I would have preferred to take far longer than this to teach you." Robert said, looking up from the book. "but we just don't have the luxury of time." 

"I think there's a spell in one of Giles' books that will lift this." Willow said, gesturing to the book that lay on the floor before her. "But lifting it myself? I've not got any idea how to start." 

"The trick.." Said Robert. "Is to harness the energy around yourself. If you're desperate you can power that kind of thing from within yourself, but it really takes it out of you,... And most of the time you'll be able to accomplish more with the energy all around you anyway." 

"Okay..." Willow said. 

Robert continued his explanation. "The energy is all around you, like air it permeates everything. There are very few places that you won't find a supply to draw on. Conventional magick uses ritual and ingredients to focus the energy, It's a highly ritualistic form of what you will learn to make second nature to yourself." 

"So I draw the energy in, how? And then what do I do with it?" Willow asked. 

"The easiest way to draw energy in, at least until you are experienced, is to try and visualise it." Robert explained. "If you can visualise the energy as being part of the air we breath, then by consciously focusing on it as you take a deep breath should enable you to draw it in. After you can manage that, it will become easier over time." 

"Then what do I do with it?" 

"Then you need to make your best effort to put the energy toward the task that you want to accomplish. Try to visualise the energy as a tangible entity, flowing out of you and doing what you need it to do." 

"There's no risk here, right?" Willow asked, slightly nervous. 

"Well, the only risk is that you won't draw properly, but will still manage to lift the book." Robert said. "In which case you'll be powering it from inside yourself. no real risk, chances are you'll just faint if you manage that. I did the first time I messed up like that." 

Willow managed a small smile. "Okay, here goes nothing." 

Closing her eyes, Willow breathed in deeply. After a moment of holding the breath in she extended her hand, palm up. Raising her hand fractionally eyes still closed, the book wobbled as it lifted a few inches into the air. Then suddenly without warning the book shot straight upwards. Willow's eyes snapped open as she heard the loud thud of the book hitting the ceiling. As Willow looked nervously to Robert the book landed unceremoniously on the floor as second or two later, more or less where it had been before. 

"That's the other thing I don't like about our situation." Robert said. "This close to the Hellmouth there's almost too much energy."   


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


Xander groaned as he woke up. Slowly his vision cleared, the darkness of the room resolving itself into clarity. He almost chuckled when he saw the half empty whiskey bottle lying on it's side just out of reach. 

"Drowning your sorrows? I didn't think you were rattled that easily." He said quietly to himself as he got up. 

As the dizziness from standing up cleared he scanned the room for anything out of place. 

"Well, you didn't destroy my work." He muttered to himself. "And you didn't do yourself in. You should have stayed sober, you might have been thinking more clearly." 

Still hung over, Xander wasn't aware of Drusillia until she emerged from the shadows in the corner of the room. 

"Whispers to him...." Drusillia crooned in her usual melodic tones as she waltzed over to Xander. "Two of them.... Devil on one shoulder, Angel on the other." Drusillia Whipped her head from side to side as she spoke, as if conversing with two invisible creatures perched one on each shoulder. 

"What do you know about it?" Xander said cautiously 

"Soul.... Ugh! Filthy little soul!" Drusillia stepped back, revolted. "Can smell the stink of it on you." 

"I'm in control here, not the soul." Xander stated. 

"Not so." Drusillia waggled a finger at Xander. "It speaks louder and louder to you. Makes you do things." 

"I can handle it." 

"That's not to know yet." Dru said. "But I'll keep your little secret. I won't tell my precious Spike about this." 

"Why?" 

"My Spike would take you away from us...... Poof! All ashes and dust." Dru said with a hint of sadness to her voice. "Just like he did to my Angel, not to you too he won't" 

"How?......" Xander started to say. 

"Can't keep anything from me, my precious." Dru replied. "Thinks he can, but clear as crystal to me." Dru sidled up to Xander, "You have your precious, she can see through you too." 

"Can't get her out of my head even now." Xander replied. 

"She is your precious." Dru said in a matter of fact tone. 

"She is." 

"Soon she'll come for you," Dru crooned. Clapping her hands together twice she continued, "We must throw her a party! And our friend must be ready in time." She said gesturing toward the books and texts that Xander had been studying. 

"Oh he will be," Xander responded "But there's one thing I need to do. It won't take too long."   


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


Buffy sighed as she leant on the Library door, pushing it open with her weight and slipping through the gap into the library. Willow rubbed her eyes, looking up from a book at Buffy as she approached. 

"Exams go well?" Willow asked preemptively. 

"Well, they certainly made me sweat for that..... D, I think" Buffy answered. "Give me vampires and icky demons any day. I mean, when in the real world are you going to need to know what covalent bonds are?" Buffy paused for a moment. "What are they by the way?" 

"Well...." Willow began just as Cordelia heaved the library doors open carrying with her a long flat package, about four feet by eighteen inches by six inches. 

"Cordelia," Buffy said in greeting. "What's in the box?" 

"Damned If I know, but it sure is heavy." Cordelia replied setting the box down on the table. 

"It's addressed to Giles." Willow observed, inspecting the label. 

"Well.. Yeah." Cordelia responded. "like anyone would ever send anything to us. I suppose you want me to go and get him, he's in the stacks?" 

Willow nodded. 

"Y'know, you're lucky I'm in a giving mood today." Cordelia said as she went into the stacks to get Giles. 

"Well, she seems to be handling this with her usual tactful flair." Buffy said, forcing a smile. "Where's Robert got to by the way? I thought he was training you or something." 

"Oh, he is." Willow replied. "He just had to run and get something. Some crystal or something to help me focus." 

"Uh-huh." Buffy mused as she picked at the edge of the label on the box. "So, what's he like? Apart from the martyr complex I mean." 

"He's not really been that forthcoming. Apart from the training and whatnot." Willow said. "He did say something about his master dying, so he's probably just down right now." 

"Makes sense." Buffy responded. "I mean... If it were Giles....." 

"If what was me?" Giles asked as he walked over from the stacks. 

"Nothing." Buffy replied casually. 

"Just trying to y'know.... psychoanalyse Robert." Willow chipped in. 

"Hmm.... This it?" Giles asked, placing a hand on the box. 

"One and the same." Buffy said. 

Carefully Giles split the seal open and opened the box up. 

"Who sent it?" Buffy asked. "And why would they send us a sword? We have lots of those." She added as she observed the box's contents. 

"Express air mail." Giles said as he retrieved the piece of paper that sat atop the sword. "From Kendra's watcher no less." 

"It's a little late." Buffy said. 

"Indeed." Giles confirmed. "It was supposed to arrive yesterday, but by the looks of this letter we may still have a use for it." 

"Oh?" Willow asked. 

"Yes. Apparently this sword was blessed by the warrior who first slew Acathla. Mr Zabuto thinks it may be able to return Acathla to his dormant state if the worst happens and he is Awakened." 

"That's...... Actually quite useful." Buffy said. 

"There's no specifics on exactly how the sword would be employed to that end." Giles said. "But I think I should be able to find that out for you." 

"Well, at least now we have a last resort." Buffy said.   


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


The sun beat down on the ground, the heat of the day forcing refuge in the shade. Robert paused to mop the sweat from his brow as he passed into the shade offered by the wall of his building. 

"Can't keep away, can you?" He said to whistler as he entered his abode. 

"Well, it does have a certain quality, but I'm sure that's nothing to do with the company." Whistler joked. 

"Or the location, or the landlord or the visitors." Robert finished. 

"Must be hard for you right now." Whistler said. "I'm glad to see you've still got it in you to make jokes." 

"I've officially gone past the point of caring about it any more." Robert said. "My master is dead, I've been a party to the death of Malek, who was for the longest time my best friend. The prophecy says that the order must die before it is reborn. Well I'm pretty much all there is of the order, so no points for guessing how that's gonna work." 

Whistler shook his head. "You gotta have something to drive you, something to go on for. This ain't open to debate, The powers ain't gonna like it if you throw yourself on the first sword to cross your path." 

"Uh huh... Like what?" Robert enquired. 

"What about the girl?" Whistler put forward. "How's she supposed to be the rebirth of the order if you don't teach her properly?" 

"She's strong, she'll get by." Robert replied. "Where's this all heading anyway?" 

"Sometimes the hardest thing is to keep going." Whistler said. "You'll find out what I mean." 

"Never ask a Verrach demon for a straight answer." Robert said in response. "But while you're here, can you tell me anything about Acathla?" 

"Acathla......" Whistler mused. "Let me think..... Ooh, Wait, I know this one." He said jokingly. 

"Nasty demon. Sword gets pulled out, he opens his moth and sucks the world down to hell." Robert said. "I'm betting you can get a bit more specific than that.... And maybe give us a solution for if the worst does happen." 

"Well it works like this...." Whistler explained. "Blood is the key. It takes the blood of someone worthy. The sword comes out. Acathla opens his big mouth, creates a vortex. This world and everything in it is sucked down to hell." 

"So how do you close it?" 

"Again, blood is the key. Once the portal is opened you'll want the blood of the person who opened it to close it again. One blow'll send 'em both down to hell. Did I mention that you also need the sword to do it?" 

"And if that fails?" Robert asked. 

"There's always more than one way to skin a cat." Whistler replied. "Can't say that I know of any other ways to close it, but that don't mean they don't exist. But chances are, if they do exist they're even less pretty than that one." 

"So don't mess the sword up basically?" 

"Yep, that's right." Whistler replied. 

"Well, I got what I came for." Robert said, picking a sizeable Quartz Amethyst off his table. "Are you gonna be here when I get back?" 

"Probably not." Whistler said. "Contrary to appearances I am actually kept quite busy. In fact I'm gonna have to skip town in a day or so.... Don't worry, you'll get on just fine without me." 

"Just so long as you leave something in the fridge." Robert replied. "Unless my destiny is to starve to death."   


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Xander glanced up at the sky as he made his way down the street. The sun was only a few minutes below the horizon, and it's heat could still be felt in the air. It felt odd to be out this early, but it had to be this way, he had other things to get to. 

He reached a house, recognisable amongst the row of houses by the unkempt state of the front garden. Trampling the border, he strode over the lawn and across to the front door. First knocking soundly on the door he then proceeded to pull out his key and push the door open. 

"I'm back." He preemptively called into the house. 

"Where th'ell you been?" The guttural voice slurred a response from somewhere in the living room. 

"Around." Xander replied curtly." 

"Don't get smart with me!" The voice shouted in reply. "Th'ain't a clean plate in the bloody house!" 

"I've had some things to sort out." 

"Well what the hell are ya standin' out there for? Get your ass in here before I get up and drag you inside!" 

Without word Xander stepped over the threshold and into his house, smiling to himself and gently closing the door behind him. 

The shouts, the screams, and the muffled thumps that emanated from the house were much the same as what could be heard on any given night. Except that this was the last night that they would ever be heard. 

About an hour later Xander stepped out through the front door, wearing the same quiet smile he had worn when he entered.   


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"Okay, that's as much time as I think we can risk." Robert said to Willow, who sat cross legged in the middle of the library floor. 

Willow opened her eyes and regarded Robert, as if she had just woken up. 

"Already?" She asked. 

"Yes." Giles Answered for Robert. " don't believe we can afford the time for any more preparations. It'll be daybreak in a few hours, what little information my research has yielded indicates that we cannot afford to leave it any later than this." 

"In that case we'd best get going." Buffy said. 

"I still think it's unwise for you to be going in there without backup." Giles said to Buffy. 

"I won't be." Buffy responded. "Witness my backup." She said, gesturing to Robert and Willow. 

"Any objections I may have about your choice of backup aside, I don't see why you shouldn't take advantage of extra backup when it's available." Giles said in response. 

"Once we get in there you stop being backup and become collateral damage." Buffy said. "That's not going to happen. I'm not going to put you in that position. I appreciate you wanting to help, but I don't know that there's anything you can do." 

"No, I don't suppose that we could be of any great assistance in the combat department." Giles said. "You should probably go while we're actually in agreement over something." 

"We got everything there?" Buffy asked Robert. 

"Stakes, check. Crossbow, check. Sword, check." Robert replied. 

"Right then, lets get going." Buffy said. 

Giles watched as Buffy, Robert and Willow purposefully marched out of the library. He waited until they were well gone before turning to Oz and Cordelia who were seated at the library table. 

"Well, what gives?" Cordelia said. "Are we gonna help them or not?" 

"Of course we're going to help." Giles said, but not by fighting." 

"because the thing I want most in the world is to fight a load of skanky undead demons." Cordelia responded, lacing her voice with sarcasm. 


	9. Awakenings III, Chapter 2

Last part but one here. All that remains after this is to wrap it up, which will be the epilogue.   
I probably should give an angst warning for this part. So.... Be warned. This part is especialy angsty in places. 

Other than that... Enjoy. And I'll have the epilogue up as soon as I can. 

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Xander sat in the dark room, poring over the ancient book. The only source of illumination being a candle sat on the table on which he worked. His brow furrowed not by the visage of his vampiric face, but by concentration he meticulously examined the book. 

He looked up as the door swung open. 

"Here to check up on me?" He asked Spike, who was standing in the doorway. 

"Too right." Spike replied. "You're taking far too long over this. And that little private excursion of yours didn't exactly help speed things up, even if it did warm the cockles of my heart to see you pay a visit to dear old mom and dad..... It's something everyone should do." 

"Well, you needn't worry about me taking so long over this." Xander replied. "I'm almost done. In fact we should be good to go just as soon as I figure out this last bit." 

"What last bit?" Spike walked over to the table as he spoke, looking down at the work that Xander was doing. 

"that bit there." Xander said, pointing at a part of the page. 

"what, that bit?" Spike scoffed. "that's easy as piss... Show me what you got." 

"That's what I got worked out." Xander said, handing a piece of paper to Spike. 

"Uh huh.... yep.... hmm..." Spike mused as he compared what Xander had given him with the book. "So that goes there.... And that.... We got it." 

"You're kidding me." Xander said. 

"Nope, we're ready to fire this up." Spike replied. "Now let's get up there and do it, Dru reckons we've got trouble coming."   
  


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Buffy led the way as the three of them marched down the road toward the mansion in the darkness, Robert and Willow walking a short distance behind. The moonlight glinting off the sword in her hand, Buffy looked back to check up on the other two. 

"You guys still back there?" She asked. 

"Yeah we're still there." Robert replied. "Just some of us have a little trouble keeping up with you, that's all." 

"How much further is it Buffy?" Willow spoke up. 

"Not much further now." Buffy answered. "A couple of minutes and we'll be there." 

"So, do we have any kind of a working plan for what we're gonna do once we get in there?" Robert asked Buffy. 

"Yeah we do." Buffy replied. "Between the crossbow and that flying fatality thing that Willow tells me you do we should be able to put the henchmen down without too much trouble. Then we pair by opponent if we can. Willow, you'll take Drusilla. She looks like she'll be the weak link. I'll take care of spike. And Robert, that leaves you with Xander. We watch out for each other and assist if we can. That work for you two?" 

Robert and Willow nodded in unison. 

"Good." Buffy said. "There's the mansion. Stealth mode from here on in."   
  


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Xander looked around the room at the arrangements. The ruby red curtains that Drusilla had insisted on putting up, the candles that encircled the immobile form of Acathla, The red carpet that ran under his feet to the statue brought a smirk to his face that it took some effort to suppress. But still it nagged at the back of his mind. That what he was about to do here was terribly wrong. He'd tried to push it aside, that didn't work; it always came back sooner or later, usually sooner. And no matter how much he tried to ignore it, it still gnawed away relentlessly at the pit of his stomach. 

He looked at the vampires that stood before him, the few that Spike could still summon on short notice after the debacle at the library. not one of them would meet his gaze. They knew what he had done, news travelled fast. The mere fact that he had killed a Slayer gave him power over them. They feared him almost as much now as they feared her. More maybe, they knew that the worst she would do to them would be to kill them. 

He looked across at Spike and Drusilla. Dru could hardly contain her glee as she surveyed the room. Spike looked back at him, and looked to be about as enamoured as he was with the decorations. 

"Got nerves?" Spike asked. 

"Big day." Xander replied. "We're gonna change the world." 

"I'll say." Spike chuckled. "We're gonna end the world. That should change it some." 

Xander chuckled along with Spike. But this wasn't right. As much as he denied it, as convincingly as he hid it from Spike, his heart just wasn't in it 

After a moment he broke the silence. 

"Well, are we gonna get this started?"   
  


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Buffy crept through the shadows, along the corridors that led to the main chamber. Just behind her, she knew was Robert and Willow. Rounding a corner, she found Herself looking through an archway straight into the main chamber. Gesturing back to Robert and Willow, she turned forward and proceeded carefully. 

Peering through the archway, Buffy observed the goings on inside the main chamber. Acathla had pride of place in the room, and someone, most likely Drusilla had even gone so far as to lay a red carpet from it to the main entrance to the room. Buffy counted the vampires, Spike, Drusilla, Xander and ...4 minions. Impressive minion gathering abilities especially considering the mess Spike had made of attacking the library. 

Carefully she moved behind the archway to unwrap the sword, before stealthily moving toward the closest vampire.   
  


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Standing at the entrance to the room, Xander took one long look at the notes he had made before handing them off to the nearest minion. Stepping forward, he took the blade that Spike offered to him. 

"Acathla, I stand before you." He began, putting the blade up to the palm of his hand and drawing a long, wicked gash across it. "My blood, flowing before you cleanses me. Makes me worthy to free you." As Xander took his second step toward Acathla all hell broke loose.   
  


Everyone's attention was drawn to the gurgling sound that the first minion made as his head was neatly sliced off. Seconds later another two minions were impaled almost simultaneously, one by a crossbow bolt, another by a flying stake. 

"Oh Bloody Hell!" Spike shouted as Dru, Xander and the one remaining minion formed around him. "Would you stop killing all the minions already?" 

"But why would we do that when it obviously makes you so happy?" Buffy said, moving into the room as Robert and Willow took up position on either side of her. 

"Oooh... Pretty lights." Dru crooned, gesturing at Robert. "This one sparkles." 

"Will he still sparkle after I pull his head off?" Spike snapped at Dru. 

"That's not very nice.." Dru pouted at Spike. "He'll stop sparkling soon anyway." 

"Is she always this annoying?" Buffy said. "Or is she just making an extra special effort for us?" 

"Watch it Slayer!" Spike growled. "That's my Drusilla you're talkin' about." 

"Watch it or you'll do what exactly?" Buffy asked mockingly. 

"I'll show you what I'll bloody do!" Spike snarled, charging into the attack. 

For a moment there was chaos before the fight resolved itself. Buffy ducked out of the way of Spike's initial attack, and came up guard raised, ready to fight. Willow squared up to Drusilla. Both kept the distance, wary of closing. Robert made straight for Xander, but the remaining minion blocked his way.   
  


Robert stepped in underneath the vampire's punch, and delivered an upward punch that would have shattered the thing's nose if it had been human. As the vampire reeled from that, Robert knocked it's legs out from under it and continued toward Xander, who was purposefully striding down the carpet towards Acathla. 

Buffy brought the sword up inbetween her and Spike, spinning it in a complex spiderweb like pattern. 

"I fought a slayer that did that twice as good as you." Spike said. "Didn't make her any less dead though." 

Spike leapt at Buffy, his foot picking the flat of the blade out from the storm of edges and sending the sword sliding across the floor. Buffy reacted by rolling away for distance, and executing a roundhouse kick as she rose from the roll, clipping Spike on the side of the head with it.   
  


With astonishing speed, Drusilla launched herself at Willow, but with equally astonishing speed Willow took a step back and swung the crossbow in her hands like a club. Drusilla staggered to one side under the force of the impact that snapped the crossbow in half like a twig, Willow followed up by launching a kick that knocked Drusilla back against the wall. Willow snapped a shard of wood off what she had left of the crossbow, making a functional stake before casting what was left of the crossbow to the ground. Stake in hand, she lunged at Drusilla. Dru twisted out of the way, evading the stake by a frighteningly small margin. The stake embedded itself into the stonework, and Willow ducked to avoid having her head crushed against the wall by Drusilla's foot. 

Abandoning the stake wedged in the wall, Willow backed off to preclude another such attack by Drusilla.   
  


As Robert came within striking distance Xander spun around with a backhanded blow that Robert ducked under. Dodging sideways to evade Xander's followup attack, Robert went low and struck out with his leg, toppling Xander to the ground. 

Xander jumped back onto his feet almost immediately and struck back at Robert. Blows and counterblows were exchanged for a few moments until Robert's superior speed told. With one swift blow to the solar plexus, Robert knocked Xander back. Catching his heel on the red carpet Xander fell, landing unceremoniously on the floor. Before he could get back to his feet Robert was standing before him. 

"From experience I know how hard it is for them to forget the person that you were. So I can understand why they won't, maybe can't kill you." Robert said, pulling a stake out of his pocket. "But I can." 

Before Robert could strike, a pair of arms clamped themselves around his own. Robert strained to look over his shoulder and saw the face of the vampire he'd just fought staring back at him.   
  


Buffy brawled with Spike, the fight having turned to close quarters in the absence of weapons. Despite Spike's greater size, slayer strength was allowing Buffy to more than hold her own. As Spike's punch sailed over her left shoulder, a left hook followed by a pair of kicks sent Spike flying to the floor. He didn't stay down for long though, and came up with a cocky grin on his face. But by the time he had Buffy had retrieved the sword.   
  


When she heard Robert's words, it took only a fraction of a second for the shock to hit Willow. Reflexively she turned to look although her whole body was screaming for her not to. Taking advantage of the apparent distraction, Drusilla lunged at Willow. Willow however caught the movement in her peripheral vision, and snapped out a kick that caught Drusilla in the midriff. Doubled up, Dru staggered backwards, and Willow turned her attention to Robert. 

Robert was by now struggling to break free of the other vampire, and Xander was striding purposefully toward Acathla. Desperately Willow started running toward Xander.   
  


Robert struggled in vain against the grip of the vampire, the thing was easily strong enough that he couldn't break it's grip. He only considered himself fortunate that it was too stupid to use it's teeth. As a last resort he pulled his leg up and kicked backwards, his heel connecting just above the vampire's kneecap. There was a hideous wrenching noise, and the vampire screamed in agony as it half collapsed, letting go of Robert in the process of clutching it's leg. 

With his arms now free, Robert drew his arm forward and then sent his elbow crashing into the vampire's face, which was now at about chest height. The vampire fell backwards onto the ground, out cold. Robert wasn't taking any chances this time though, and rammed the stake through it's heart for good measure.   
  


Drusilla winced as she looked up. Willow was half way across the room, her and the sparkling one would soon be together against Xander. But her Spike was fighting a slayer, and he needed her help. That mattered more. Pushing off from the wall she had been leaning against, she began to run towards Spike and Buffy.   
  


Xander smiled as he stepped up to Acathla. He afforded a quick glance around as he raised his hand up to the hilt of the sword embedded in Acathla's chest. Willow was closing fast, but she was just that little bit too far away. 

"Now......." He said, clamping his bloodied hand around the sword handle. "To hell with it!" He shouted as he wrenched the sword free. The brilliant blue light silhouetted him for a brief moment as he worked the sword around into a more manageable grip and turned to face Willow.   
  


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Spike and Buffy continued their dance of death, both seemingly unaware of what had just happened. To the contrary, both of them were very much aware of it, but they could ill afford the luxury of reacting to it. However, as Buffy lashed out with the sword and Spike twisted and dodged to evade it's deadly caress, Drusilla's approach remained undetected. 

Undetected right up until the moment that Dru tackled Buffy to the ground, sending the sword skittering across the floor. Buffy twisted around, and punched Drusilla from her position on the floor. When Drusilla's weight shifted from on top of her she rolled out of the way and gracefully clambered to her feet, but she was now fighting two at once and she no longer had the advantage of a weapon.   
  


The deathly calm on Xander's face betrayed the turmoil inside as he advanced on Willow, sword in hand. Willow stood her ground, scanning with her eyes for some trace of humanity, some trace of the old Xander. 

Xander raised the sword, and struck with it. The blow was slow and ill aimed though, and Willow was able to dodge it despite her lack of preparedness. Xander swung again, still to slow and to poorly for it to be any real danger to Willow. His eyes told the story, he was fighting not one battle, but two. One on the outside, one on the inside. 

As Xander raised the sword to take another swing, Robert jumped in from the side and knocked the sword from Xander's hand. Xander whipped round to face Robert, but before he could effect a counterattack Robert distanced himself, picking the sword up from where Xander had dropped it in the process.   
  


Spike and Dru smiled evilly as they moved to surround Buffy. As she moved, Drusilla seamlessly bent down to pick up Buffy's sword from where it had fallen. 

"Scared yet, Slayer?" Spike licked his lips as he spoke, although that had more to do with Dru bending over than anything else. 

When Spike lunged forward on the attack, Buffy was more than capable of evading it and even planting a kick of her own for good measure. The followup attack that Drusilla delivered scant seconds later was however mere inches away from slicing the top of her head off, and came away with a lock of her hair despite her best efforts to avoid it.   
  


Xander backed away from Robert and Willow as they carefully advanced on him. 

"Give it up." Robert said. "It's over, you haven't got a chance now." 

"At least I can take pleasure in the fact that your slayer isn't any better off than me." Xander responded, gesturing over to where Buffy fought Spike and Dru. 

Robert cast a cautious glance in that direction whilst keeping the sword pointed square at Xander. Willow was far less cautious, turning her whole body to gape in disbelief at the fight. 

Xander took his opportunity and rushed at Willow, pushing her to the ground. Robert snapped his head to Willow as he saw the rush of movement, and saw Willow just getting up onto her hands and knees. 

"Go..." Willow said before Xander planted his foot in her stomach, knocking her over onto her back. 

"Help Buffy!" Willow completed the sentence upon landing as she scrambled to her feet. 

Robert was torn. For a brief moment he stood looking back and forth between the two fights, then he realised what Willow had and started running to Buffy's aid.   
  


Willow dodged backwards, evading another blow from Xander. The attacks were more accurate now than they were before though, Xander had stopped pulling his punches. 

"I know you," Willow emplored. "I know you're in there, and I know you can fight this thing." 

"Oh, he's in here." Responded the demon that wore Xander's face. "But it's not his fault that he's such a weakling." 

"If you think that then you're wrong." Willow said back. "He's strong." 

"Yeah, so strong that he couldn't say he loved you to your face, couldn't even tell the others. The only time he was strong enough to say it to you was when you were unconscious." 

"He was strong enough to kill Angelus." Willow retorted. 

"Actually Spike did the deed." Xander replied callously. "Although I will give him points for going a full ooh... Two rounds with Angelus before Spike stepped in." 

"He's still strong enough to stop you." Willow said defiantly. 

"Believe what you like." Xander replied calmly. "Soon your friends will be dead, the world will be hell, literally. And you..." He said, bringing his vampiric features to the fore. "...Will look a lot like this."   
  


As Robert neared Spike, Dru and Buffy, he singled out Spike as his target. However, Spike was not completely unaware of this and extended his leg in a kick that would have done serious damage had Robert not passed underneath it. As it was, the fact that Spike had one leg in the air made it even easier for Robert's slide to topple him over. 

Robert's forward momentum carried him on past Spike and almost to Buffy. He held the sword out for her and Buffy snatched it from his hand as she dived out of the way of one of Drusilla's sword strokes. 

Fending off a quick slash from Drusilla, Buffy afforded a glance down at Robert as he quickly clambered to his feet. 

"Why do I have the sword?" Buffy said to him. 

"Because my knowledge on how to fight with them gets a little fuzzy after 'point it at the enemy'. 

"Not done much weapons training have you?" Buffy asked, making an exploratory attack against Drusilla's defence as she did so. 

"Never got around to it." Robert said as he watched Spike get up. "Time's always the limiting factor."   
  


Xander's face was a picture of duress as he fought Willow back across the room. Not that she was making him sweat for each foot that he pushed her back, she was hardly putting up an adequate defence, let alone fighting back with any conviction. The hardest part of it was fighting against himself. 

"Your little lap dog is gone." Xander growled at her. "The sooner you accept it and start putting some effort in, the sooner I can start having some real fun." 

"You're not enjoying this." Willow said as she ducked out of the way of one of Xander's kicks. "The only reason you want me to fight back is because you don't want to feel quite so bad about it." 

Willow dodged Xander's next attack by jumping backwards, using magick to extend the jump and put some real distance between them was easier than she expected it to be. 

"In fact..." She said as Xander closed some of the distance to stand about six feet away. "I don't think you want to fight me at all." 

Xander looked at her for a moment, then across at the others, then turned back to look at her. She could see the turmoil in his face, see him almost literally fighting with himself. Her strongest impulse was to go to him and comfort him, and she still had to make a conscious effort not to, despite knowing what he was. 

"Not quite that easy is it?" She said to him. 

"No..." He responded, quite obviously finding it difficult. "...But it can be done." 

As he finished speaking, Xander pulled himself into a combat stance and advanced on Willow. Willow quickly moved backwards the short distance necessary to put her within reach of the stake she had stuck in the wall. A quick tug freed the impromptu stake from the wall, and Willow turned with stake in hand to face Xander. 

"Going to stake me now?" Xander observed. "Think you can bring yourself to do it?" 

"If I have to." Willow replied.   
  


Buffy and Robert maintained a defensive formation as Spike and Dru carefully approached them, looking for a weakness to exploit. 

"No need to rush yourself Spike," Buffy said as Spike growled with impatience "We've got all the time in the world." 

"All the time in the world eh?" Spike perked up considerably as he spoke. "If the big stone demon over there has any say in it, then that'll be about five minutes then." He continued, grinning from ear to ear. 

"Ideas?" Buffy said quietly to Robert. 

"I think I can hold Spike off long enough for you to deal with her." Robert said, gesturing to Drusilla. "You get the sword over to Willow and Xander, do what needs to be done." 

"Ten swords." Drusilla said. "All sparkly and bleeding at the same time. Can't decide which one is yours." She continued, pointing at Robert. "But they're all for you." 

"Whatever..." Robert said. 

Then he advanced toward Spike.   
  


The battle was joined with frightening speed, Robert and Spike colliding in a swirling mass of fists and feet. As soon as Robert was clear of Buffy, she advanced on Drusilla and the clash of steel on steel also reverberated throughout the room. 

Robert was having a little more trouble with Spike than he had been with Xander. Spike was an experienced fighter, and knew perfectly well how to deal with a faster opponent. Every opening that Spike presented was a double edged sword, a means for Spike to strike back whilst he was extended. 

"You smell human enough.." Spike snarled whilst Blocking one of Robert's attacks, his own counterattack coming dangerously close to connecting. "But don't much look it from the way you fight. What say we open you up, see if it's human on the inside?" 

"Y'know I think I'd rather not, if you don't mind." Robert shouted back, diving and rolling away to gain some much needed distance. 

Buffy grimaced in frustration as her sword darted back and forth. Whatever advantage she may have had in unarmed combat was immaterial, with a weapon Drusilla was a most capable combatant. Certainly good enough to fight her to a standstill.   
  


Xander was aware of the fact that he was fighting. The various attacks, defences, and counterattacks played in front of him as if someone else was doing the fighting, he was fighting on instinct and reflex pure and simple. He had more important things to worry about than the fight. 

Like it's outcome.   
  


It wasn't hard to follow the path of the fight to it's final conclusion. He would win. Either he would snap her neck or something equally wasteful, or he would turn her. Willow was strong enough to win, but held back. And holding back would kill her. 

He was a vampire, demon. Killing her shouldn't be a problem, but it was. He knew it was wrong, all of it. One of the burdens of having a conscience. He could feel his soul, fighting it's way up from the depths of his consciousness. This was worth fighting him over, and his soul was just as strong as he was, maybe stronger.   
  


Robert was getting desperate. On a good day he would have given himself nice odds to beat Spike. But now... Between being on the wrong end of a fairly sound beating last night and the fighting he'd already done today he was starting to slow down. 

Spike's next attack caught him. Barely winging him, the kick caught his arm, knocking it to one side. Robert was shocked enough that an attack had connected at all that Spike was able to strike him directly with his next attack, A simple punch that caught Robert square on the jaw and knocked him off his feet.   
  


Xander and Willow continued to fight. Xander still fighting on little more than instinct, Willow fighting defensively and unwilling to attack. Several opportunities to stake Xander and finish it passed before her, but she couldn't bring herself to take any of them. Xander fought himself as much as he fought Willow, trying to gain control and stop himself before Willow did the inevitable and made a mistake. 

Ironically it wasn't until Willow made a mistake that the urgency helped him find the strength he needed. 

In blocking one of his attacks, Willow overbalanced. A quick backhanded blow delivered to Xander's face precluded his attacking while she stumbled the few necessary paces backwards to regain her balance, but it didn't keep Xander off balance long enough to stop him diving at her before she could fully recover. It was in that moment that Xander realised the fight had come to an end. He could see the look reflected in Willow's eyes, she knew it too. 

And in that moment he reached out for control with every ounce of strength he had. 

"Just a fraction of a second too late" He thought as he felt his feet leave the floor. 

He was going to hit her. He couldn't stop himself any more than she could move fast enough to get out of the way. He couldn't even shift his path enough to change where Willow was pointing the stake she had reflexively raised for defence. He knew that, but it didn't make any part of it less startling. 

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The dull thump of the full body impact, followed by the searing pain as the stake jabbed into his chest. The world tilting crazily as the force of the impact carried them both down to the ground. The jolting impact with the ground, only lessened slightly by outstretched arms and Willow's body beneath him. The sheer agony as the impact with the ground drove the piece of wood still deeper into his chest. 

Deep, but not quite deep enough. 

Xander opened the eyes that he never realised he had shut on the way down. Willow's face was right beneath his, staring back up at him. Fear was still etched across her features, but only for a the moment it took for her to look into his eyes. 

"Xander?" Willow whispered. 

"It's me." He replied wearily 

Willow sighed with relief. "I Thought I'd lost you." 

Xander didn't reply. He couldn't lie to her, he never could. And he couldn't bring himself to tell her what he knew in his heart. This was only a temporary victory. The demon was still there, clawing it's way up from the depths of his subconscious. Maybe he could hold it off for days, weeks maybe even. But sooner or later it would take control, if only for a short time. And those he loved would pay the price. 

"You are ok, aren't you?" Willow asked. Worry creeping into her voice. 

"I've won the battle." Xander said. "But it's still inside me, I can't control it all the time." 

"We can do something." Willow said, far more anxious now. "Fix the spell, make it work properly. We'll make it better." 

She was clutching at straws, he knew that. She'd try and fix the curse, of that he had no doubt. But that curse was ancient magic, long since lost to this world and very dangerous. She'd tear herself up looking for a solution that probably didn't even exist. And he dreaded to think of the damage he could do in the meantime. 

No, there was only one way out of this. 

"There's only one thing that'll make it better." He said softly. 

And he pulled himself closer to kiss her. 

A tear rolled down his cheek at the agony of the stake, pressed between the two of them being pushed the last few inches to where it needed to be. 

Their lips met, ant for a split second he was content, at peace. It seemed like an eternity since he'd last felt like that. 

Feeling the disintegration starting, he pulled away just a little so he could look into her eyes, and saw the tears welling up in them. 

"I love you. You know that?" He whispered. He couldn't have said anything any more substantial if he had wanted to. 

Willow nodded her head, her lower lip quivering slightly. Speech of any kind was beyond her at the moment. 

He took one last look at her, then closed his eyes tight, burning the image into his memory.   
  


Then nothing.   
  


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The rush of energy was unmistakable for anything else. Flowing through the room, carrying (what would have been, if it were sound) a low mournful tone with it. Robert winced as he felt it, knowing it all too well for the departing soul that it was. 

Momentarily distracted by the departure, he only just managed to roll out of the way of Spike's foot as it descended where his head had been. He climbed up to his knees, but before he could get to his feet Spike had clamped a hand on his shoulder.   
  


Buffy and Drusilla continued their swordfight despite the goings on around them. With weapons such as what they were using the two of them were almost perfectly matched. Drusilla had the slight edge in finesse, but Buffy had superior speed and strength, and more importantly knew how to use them. However, neither of them had the advantage needed to swing the fight beyond the stalemate that it was rapidly developing into.   
  


Keeping one hand clamped on Robert's shoulder, Spike grabbed the arm with his other hand and twisted. Robert grimaced in pain as Spike steadily turned up the pressure. 

Spike hauled Robert around so that he was directly facing Acathla. The eyes of the statue were glowing ominously, and Robert could have sworn he could see the thing's mouth inching it's way open. 

"See that?..." Spike shouted at Robert . "That thing there will pull this world down to hell." 

"Tell me something I don't know." Robert retorted. 

"You'll live to see it." Spike said. "Don't get me wrong, I am going to kill you. Kill you good and proper, but not until you've watched this world go to hell." 

Robert strained against Spike's grip, trying to get himself onto his feet. For his trouble, Spike responded with a quick twist on his arm which yielded a loud pop as the shoulder dislocated. 

Robert clenched his jaw to avoid crying out as Spike added a little extra bit of pressure, just for the hell of it. 

"Try it again and I'll pull your arm right off." Spike said menacingly.   
  


In a daze, Willow slowly pulled herself to her feet. This wasn't reality, any of it. Because things like that just don't happen. Almost without thinking she started to brush the dust from her, only to stop mid way into the first stroke as the reality of what she was doing hit her. Silently she sank back down onto her knees holding her face in her hands, the shuddering of her shoulders dispelling any doubts there may have been that she was crying.   
  


Straining against Spike's grip, Robert tried to turn his head, to see the goings on he could hear in the rest of the chamber. 

"Worried about your friends?" Spike mocked, tightening his grip to prevent Robert from looking around. "Well, your slayer's having fun. But your little witch is not happy at all. Must have something to do with..." Spike let out a dissatisfied sigh as he pieced together what had happened. "Bloody Pillock, he had to get himself staked didn't he.... But then again, that means you can't stop out boy Acathla here now, so I guess it was worth it." 

Thoughts raced through Robert's head as he looked straight ahead at the only thing there was to see: The slowly opening maw of Acathla. Most of the thoughts were a clutter of panic, a bad idea here, an even worse one there, nothing that would help him break the stranglehold that Spike had on him. One line of thought though was calm, deliberate, ordered. Robert focused on it and as he did so, realised that it was also not his own. Robert made his best effort to identify it as he followed the thought. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite pin it down. It was also quite, quite crazy. Crazy enough that it might just work. 

Robert closed his eyes as he began to charge, reaching out with his mind to tap the fledgling portal in front of him, the growing dirty yellow vortex that unchecked, would be the destruction of this world. The energy was sickly, it made him want to retch, but tapping the portal was the only way to accumulate sufficient energy to have a chance at what he was about to attempt. Nature is not without a sense of irony. Fighting the urge to spew his guts up all over the floor, Robert bent the energy to it's first task. 

Spike. 

The shockwave came complete with audible accompaniment and complimentary flash of light, and it threw Spike back a good ten feet. Slowly and painfully, Spike got to his feet, regarding his opponent with a new perspective. Robert also got to his feet, and turned to face Spike. For just a moment their eyes met, each scanning the other as if to get the measure of their opponent. 

"Sod this!" Spike said after a moments silence. "I got better things to do than stick around and get pulled apart by that magic crap of yours." He turned and ran over to where Drusilla and Buffy fought. 

Robert ignored Spike, turning his attention back to Acathla. As much as he would have liked to kill Spike, he simply didn't have time.   
  


Buffy backed away from Drusilla as Spike approached. Keeping her sword levelled at Dru, but allowing herself room so that Spike couldn't just leap into the middle of the fight. 

"Dru, honey. We're leaving... Now." Spike said with a quiet urgency as he took up position beside her. 

"Awww" Dru pouted. "I was enjoying myself." She swished her sword back and forth through the air a few times for emphasis. 

"Yes love, but we're leaving now because of that." Spike replied, pointing at Robert. 

"Oooh.." Drusilla exclaimed as she and Buffy both turned their heads to look at the object of Spike's gesture. Buffy however had enough restraint to stay silent.   
  


Robert could feel the rush of air being sucked into the vortex as he continued to draw in as much energy as he could. He could almost feel himself glowing with all the energy he'd drawn in, much more energy and he probably would start glowing. This was however the least of things he had to worry about, the vortex had reached sufficient size that it was actually carving a gout into the stone floor just in front of Acathla's feet. Any misgivings he had about what he was doing were secondary to the fact that it had to be done, and done now. 

"Spiritus supra," He said. He had no idea where the words were coming from, he had never learnt them but somehow he knew them. 

"Ego vos advoco." The air around him crackled with energy, arcs of what looked like static electricity rippling from him and down to the floor.   
  


"You see why we have to leave now?..." Spike said 

Dru pouted even more. "Pretty lights. Can't we stay for the show?" 

"If you think I want to be anywhere near ground zero when that goes off you've got another bloody thing coming!" Spike snapped back at her. 

Dru moaned softly in protest, but when Spike started tugging her in the direction of the door she offered no resistance.   
  


"Porta esto foramen," Robert was now shouting into the vortex, which was at least ten feet in diameter now. 

"Id mos termino." The tiny arcs of energy seemed to be crawling all over his body now. He raised his good arm above his head. 

"Ego vos devoco. Porta termino." He shouted, this time seemingly up at the ceiling. 

"Ego organum vester es." The arcs of energy were bigger now, a few even arcing directly down to the ground from his raised arm and creating a strange kind of umbrella effect. 

"Accipio me," The words were almost broken by the pain, as if in speaking them he had opened himself to what had otherwise been passing over him. 

"Accipio me tunc porta termino." The words were spoken with slow deliberation, the kind that suggests that it was necessary in order to concentrate enough to form them properly. The bolts of energy ran down him in a cascade now, almost like water in running down his body and scattering on the floor. 

"Id termino!" His voice cracked as he forced the words out. But they were said, that was enough. The cascade of energy stopped, as if simply switched off, and he was left standing with his arm raised to the sky for just a moment.   
  


"You can run now..." Buffy shouted after Spike and Dru as they left the room. "But we'll come for you. We'll hunt you down and slay you. So get the biggest head start you can, and keep running." 

Spike and Dru didn't look back as they fled the chamber. Buffy let out a small sigh of relief as they rounded the corner of the corridor and disappeared from sight. 

"I think that sounded convincing." She said quietly as she turned back toward the room. She was just forming the words to ask what the hell was happening when the ceiling seemed to explode.   
  


The bolt of lightning arced down through the building, completely unimpeded by the roof, and the floor above the chamber... And struck Robert square on the top of his shoulders. The mere shockwave from the bolt was almost enough to knock Buffy off her feet, but she retained her footing as masonry scattered from the hole in the roof tumbled to the floor. By luck none of it hit her, and Willow was far enough from the impact not to be in any real danger. The rubble however seemed to avoid Robert by design, although that probably had something to do with the fact that the bolt of whatever it was still persisted, looking for all the world like a giant spark of electricity skewering Robert through the shoulders.   
  


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There was no pain. 

Implausible. A bolt of what may as well be lightning has just impaled you. That can't be good for you, therefore it has to hurt. 

"True, true." Came a familiar voice from behind Robert. 

Robert opened his eyes. It was as if the time had stopped. He turned around to look at the source of the voice and saw Buffy walking toward him. 

"But if you felt the pain that it should cause, your head would probably explode." The Buffy said in a matter of fact fashion. "Being only human and all." 

Robert observed the Buffy as she gingerly stepped around the rubble on the floor. 

"You're not Buffy." Robert stated. 

"Of course not." The Buffy replied. "But again..." 

"I know... I'm only human." Robert said. "If I saw your true appearance my brain would fry and my heart explode?" 

"Something like that." It responded. 

"Why did you call us?" Spoke a second voice from behind Robert. 

Robert turned around to see Willow.. Or what appeared to be Willow standing behind him. 

"Can't you see this?" Robert gestured to the vortex. 

"It is unfortunate, to be sure." Willow said. 

"But it has happened..." Buffy continued. 

"For what purpose would you have us change it?" Willow asked. 

"The entire world is about to be destroyed, and you ask me for what reason I would have you prevent it?" Robert said with a slightly incredulous tone to his voice. 

"You presume that the world which you exist in is unique." Buffy responded, the edge to her voice acting to caution Robert about his manner. "I assure you, it is not." 

"If you will not save it for it's own merit, then for what will you save it?" Robert asked. 

"He expects a price." Willow said. 

"You care enough for this world, that you would forfeit your life in it so that we would save it?" Buffy asked. 

"Yes." Robert said. 

"Interesting." Willow said. 

"We must confer." Buffy elaborated. 

The two of them seemed to simply fade out of existence. Robert could hear the sounds of them conversing, but it was nothing intelligible to him. After only a moment or two they returned, fading in exactly like they had faded out only moments ago. 

"We have decided." Buffy said. 

"That your world will be saved." Willow continued. 

"There will be a price." The Buffy said to Robert. 

"You are still willing to pay it?" Willow asked. 

Robert nodded. 

"Then it will be done." Buffy said. 

"Now." The Willow finished the sentence and Robert suddenly snapped back to the reality of his world.   
  


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The pain hit him as his awareness came back to here. Not pain, but the kind of white agony that blots out all other awareness. He couldn't see, hear or feel anything besides the pain... Or if he could, he couldn't focus on it.   
  


Buffy however, could see exactly what was happening.   
  


The huge bolt continued to pour energy into Robert. For a few moments it built, to the point where the air around Robert practically crackled with it, but the energy had to go somewhere. 

Then Buffy understood. Robert was the weapon, there was a reason he was pointed directly at the vortex. Just as she finished that thought a secondary bolt of energy, almost as big as the one that still connected with Robert's shoulders leapt out from his chest and straight into the vortex.   
  


The energy washed over the vortex, forked, lightning like tendrils snaking their way out and around the vortex. Amazingly the vortex was shrinking, the barrage of energy beating it back. Buffy watched as the vortex shrunk from nine feet to three, and then to no more than twelve inches across. Then with a fairly small and pathetic display, the vortex closed upon itself. 

The energy however, did not stop. It poured into the statue, saturating it to the point where tiny sparks of energy could be seen upon it's surface.   
  


Then the bolt stopped.   
  


The secondary bolt continued to pour into Acathla for perhaps a second longer, then it too ceased. Acathla stood proud for just a moment after this, then collapsed under it's own weight as if it were no more than sand.   
  


Robert dropped to his knees, barely stopping himself from flopping onto his belly by arresting his fall with his good arm. Slowly awareness came back to him, and he was aware of a hand gently resting on his shoulder as well as a voice. 

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked. 

Robert turned his head to look at her. Something was wrong. He was still alive for one, but more than that something just wasn't right. The world looked to all intents and purposes like it was in black and white. As he looked at Buffy he suddenly realised what he should be seeing: Her aura. 

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked again. 

"Something's wrong." He croaked out. His mouth was so dry that he could barely talk. "I can't see." 

"You sure?" Buffy said. "You seem to be looking at me just fine." 

"No, no." He responded. "I can see. I just...." 

"What is it?" Buffy asked, confused. 

"I can't see it, any of it." Robert said. 

"What? Magick?" Buffy asked. "Give yourself a few days rest. It'll come back to you." 

"No." Robert said distantly. "I don't think it will." 

"But you are okay?" Buffy said. 

"I'll live." Robert said quietly. "Damn foolish of me to think they'd take what I expected them to." 

"Huh?" Buffy said. "Again for the mere mortals in the room?" 

"Doesn't matter." Robert replied. "Pop my shoulder back in and I'll be fine. Then you should go to help Willow, she looks like she needs it."   
  


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	10. Epilogue

There we are.... the epilogue. The story is finished.   
Although I do have plans to write stories that sort of pick up from where this left off.   
Anyway... keep your eyes peeled, I'm sure I will get around to continuing this timeline in the near future. 

Oh, and in case you hadn't guessed yet, I thrive on feedback.   
now more than ever I would like to hear it, especialy since you have the whole story to go on.   


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Epilogue   
  


Giles carefully pushed open the door and stepped into the room, concealing his surprise as he observed the living conditions. Buffy hadn't been exaggerating when she'd described them. Robert sat at a small table, book and several crystals in front of him. As Giles entered he looked up at him. 

"She's gone, you know." Giles said. 

"Gone?" Robert asked. 

Giles nodded. "Sometime in the night." He said. "Buffy's gone to the Bus depot, and Oz is searching the train station. But I suspect she's already long gone." 

"I can see why she'd want to get away from here." Robert said. 

"But we need to find her." Giles stated. "Buffy told me what happened, but I still have to ask. Is there anything you can do to help find her?" 

Robert shook his head. "Not now. I probably could have found her before, but.... I'm no use to you now." He sighed. 

"You really have no magic at all?" Giles asked. 

"I've been trying all night." Robert said. "I can't see anything, I can't do anything. Nothing. Not glamours, not even the simplest of spells. Some words in this book trigger spells when simply read aloud, by anyone. I can't even trigger those." 

"It must be quite an adjustment." Giles observed. 

"It's like the sight that I've had my whole life has suddenly been stripped from me and I'm left to fumble around in the darkness. It's more than an adjustment." 

"left to fumble around in the darkness like everyone else has their whole lives." Giles corrected. "Believe it or not I do know a thing or two about rude awakenings. If it's pity you want then you can have mine. However if you want my gratitude for what you've done then take that, and make yourself worthy of my respect so that I can give that to you too." 

Robert straightened up slightly where he sat. "What do you need?" 

"At the moment, nothing." Giles said. "But we may soon need all the help we can get. Despite your lack of ability, your knowledge of magic may be quite useful." 

"If you need me, you know where I am." Robert said. 

"Speaking of knowledge..." Giles said. "I meant to ask where you learnt that spell. If what Buffy told me was at all accurate then it was invocation of the highest order. Where did you learn it?" 

"That's the strange part." Robert replied. "I never learnt it. It was just... There." 

"How is such a thing possible?" Giles asked. 

"It took me the better part of the night to figure it out, inbetween my futile magical attempts. I have my master to thank for that. He, as far as I can tell, planted it. I don't know how he knew that it would be needed, I don't even know how he put it there without me knowing about it, but he did." 

"Intriguing." Giles said. "He sounds quite remarkable." 

"Crafty old man." Robert said. "You would have liked him. But he's not with us anymore." 

"I'm sorry." Giles said. 

"No need to be." Robert said. "You weren't to know." 

"Well..." Giles said, slightly awkwardly. "I'm sure you could use some space to adjust. If you don't mind I'll retreat so I can get my foot out of my mouth." 

Robert waited until Giles had almost reached the door before he spoke. 

"Y'know, you're not that bad..." He said. "For watchers council." The tone of voice betrayed it for the hard given compliment that it was, rather than any backhanded insult. 

"No. I don't suppose that I am." Giles replied, suppressing with a practised ease the infectious grin that threatened to erupt on his face. "I shall have to work on that." 

"You do that." Robert said. And, if only for a moment, he managed a smile.   
  


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For the longest time there was nothingness. 

Well, without any way to measure it Xander had no idea how long it was. But there was nothingness, and an awful lot of it. And something seemed to be sharing the nothingness with him. 

As Xander focused on this something, details about it became apparent. It was almost as if the thing was using his concentration on it to form before him. He even had an image of it, and he couldn't mistake the visually repugnant clothes for anything else..   
  


"I wondered how long it would take you to notice me." Whistler didn't exactly speak, but Xander perceived it as a sound. 

"I'm dead, aren't I?" Xander asked. 

"Yup." Whistler responded. "You're dust." 

"You're not dead though." Xander said. 

"Kid's two for two." Whistler said back. "If it helps you can visualise me sitting over a ouija board. The reality's a little more complex than that, but as visualisations go it's not too far off. However as much as I'd like to play twenty questions with you, it's not going to get us anywhere." 

"So what happens then?" Xander asked. 

"Just sit.... err, relax, and let me do the explaining. I'm sure you'll have more than enough questions without trying to second guess me." 

"Okay, shoot." Xander said. 

"You see, you've gone and made a bleedin' big mess of things." Whistler explained. "Not that it's all your fault. Considering the circumstances, you really came into your own at the end there. Doesn't make you any less dead. But it makes her less dead, which is important. You see, she's what is known as very important. She has a destiny, of sorts.. And so do you. In fact, the two are very closely intertwined." 

"How close?" Xander asked. 

"Hey, what do I look like? A pervert?" Whistler did his very best to look hurt. "No reason why I should know any of the ...ahem... delicate details. What I do know is that whilst you doing what you did has fairly royally screwed things up, it was also just about the best available outcome at the time... Well, second best, but that's not too bad going." 

"Okay." Xander said. "But I have two questions: First, why do I get the idea that you're leading up to something? And second, why does it feel like the demon is so much weaker now?" 

"Both good points." Whistler responded. "The demon feels much weaker because it's not there anymore. That's one small bonus from your earlier choice. A small amount of spillover was inevitable with the two of you forced together like that, ordinarily that should never happen, but with the two of you being parts of the same whole...." 

"Spillover?" Xander queried. 

"Yeah, it's where he leaves an imprint on you and you leave an imprint on him. That's why you think you can still feel him. Now, the other point... You're dead. It's very unfortunate. It's also not a tenable situation. So I ask you this very simple question: You were strong enough to die for her, but are you strong enough to come back for her?" 

"Yeah." Xander said. "I can do it." 

"That's what we need to find out." Whistler said.   
  


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The wine cellar below the mansion had, since Spike and Drusilla's occupation been turned into a holding pen of sorts. Of course, it was empty of life now, and Neither Spike and Drusilla, nor Buffy and her friends had taken the opportunity to check it before leaving.   
  


Had they done so they would have found the girl.   
  


She lay upon the stone floor, perhaps dead to all intents and purposes, but not for much longer. 

When they eyes snapped open, it was not the white of human eyes that they revealed, but the demonic eyes of a vampire, in tandem with this the face shifted, the ridges and fangs manifesting themselves for the first time. Carefully getting to her feet, the girl surveyed her surroundings 

"Well, it's a bit drab, but I'm sure I can do something with it." Kendra said as she walked out of the room in which she had been reborn, and up and out of the cellar.   
  


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Willow winced at the sunlight which was streaming in through the window of the train carriage. It was mocking her, that was the only way it would be shining so brightly. She could see it all around, everyone was happy. They knew nothing of what lurked in the shadows. That hurt more than being around people who knew, at least they understood. But she couldn't be there anymore, not now. Too many bad memories. Her thoughts started to turn towards those she was leaving, and she forced them away from it. The would cope, they always did, but she didn't have the strength to dwell on what her departure would do to them.   
  


Not yet.   
  


She looked down to her feet where her bag lay. Her laptop, a few changes of clothes, various odd items, and as much money as she could scrape together on such short notice. It should see her long enough for her to find her feet when she got where she was going. She reached into the bag and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. "better to be on the safe side." She thought as she put them on.   
  


And the train lurched forward, pulling out of Sunnydale station and onward to it's destination. 

And as the train pulled away and out of the station the sun continued to shine. 

Just as it should. 

Just as it had always done.   
  


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End... for now. 


End file.
